The news around Comprehensive Immigration Reform is movingat a breakneck pace. On Tuesday, PresidentObama will speak in Las Vegas. Thisis expected to be the launch for the President’s plan for ComprehensiveImmigration Reform. The President isfirmly behind CIR and likely will sign any bill that legalizes most or all ofthe 12 million or so undocumented.
The House of Representatives was expected to be a differentstory. Unlike the Senate, which iscontrolled by the President’s Democratic party, the House is controlled by theRepublicans who were expected to put up a bigger fight on immigration.
Yet, in a closed door meeting on Friday, Speaker JohnBoehner (R-OH) toldthe Ripon Society that a group of dedicated policy wonks and politicianshave been meeting on and off for three or four years and that, “Frankly, Ithink they basically have an agreement”.
As if that weren’t encouraging enough, Computerworld reportedon Friday that a bipartisan group of influential Senators were ready tointroduce a high-skilled immigration bill, the Immigration Innovation Act, that calls for the H-1B cap to increase to115,000 per year, from its current 65,000. The H-1B cap would contain a “market-based escalator” that wouldincrease or decrease the H-1B cap as employer-demand ebbed and flowed, althoughit could never fall below the 115,000 threshold.
Things are moving very fast in immigration. If you are in healthcare and want to be surethat this once-in-a-decade opportunity to influence immigration legislation isnot missed, please contact MU Law. We are working with a dedicated group ofindustry leaders to push for positive immigration reform in healthcare, but weneed more help.