Free Republic

Last June, as part of the response to the pandemic, President Trump imposed a ban on new H1-B visas. For those not familiar, that program allows employers to bring skilled, nonimmigrant workers into the country to fill jobs that the employer allegedly can’t fill with citizens. It was a sensible decision, both in terms of preventing additional COVID cases from arriving on our shores and the fact that so many people were unemployed that employers shouldn’t have had any trouble finding workers to fill their ranks here at home. But for some reason, according to one source who spoke to...

Congress adjourned for a month-long recess on Aug. 1, the same day that the Bureau of Labor Statistics released distressing news about unemployment. The July economic news was not good. The official unemployment rate hit a four-year high of 5.7 percent, as the economy shed 51,000 jobs last month, bringing the total of lost jobs for 2008 to 463,000. Seemingly oblivious to what is happening back in their states and districts, the House Immigration Subcommittee finished up business for the rest of the summer by approving legislation that, if enacted, would “recapture” some 557,000 visas that were not used during...

For years, the vast majority of politicians in the main parties have avoided having honest public conversation about the extent and consequences of immigration. The fear of appearing racist, or giving any ground to the arguments of the far right, has left most MPs and commentators in Pollyanna territory - extolling the economic and cultural benefits of immigration and glossing over problems. That has done the nation no favours, because the consequences of rapid social change have been scarcely studied, let alone addressed. And it has increased many people's distrust of the political universe, as the gulf between their own...