Free Republic

Foreign Students Walk Off Hershey’s Factory Job In Protest By Liz GoodwinAugust 18, 2011 Hundreds of foreign students on a State Department cultural exchange visa program walked off their factory jobs in protest on Wednesday. The J-1 visa program brings foreign students to the country to work for two months and learn English, and was designed in part to fill seasonal tourism jobs at resorts and seaside towns. The 400 students employed at a Pennsylvania factory that makes Hershey's candies told The New York Times that even though they make $8.35 an hour, their rent and program fees are deducted...

(CNSNews.com) – A little-known State Department program has allowed about 3,400 immigrants to come to the U.S. in 2008 from the four nations that a currently listed by the State Department as “state sponsors of terror” – Iran, Cuba, Syria and Sudan. According to a State Department report on the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, 691visas were granted to immigrants from Cuba, 1,435 to immigrants from Iran, 1,147 to immigrants from Sudan and 94 to immigrants from Syria. The program, mandated by Congress and administered by the State Department, consists of a lottery for applicants from countries with “low rates of...

Congress moves to aid visa program's investors Last-minute amendments would give exemptions to those seeking residency By Walter F. Roche Jr. Sun Staff Originally published September 27, 2002 Acting at the last minute and without public notice, Congress is moving to give special exemptions to a small group of foreign investors who sought to gain permanent U.S. residency by participating in financial partnerships labeled "questionable" by a federal agency. The exemptions were included this week in amendments to a Justice Department spending bill. The amendments were passed Wednesday by a conference committee; and the House, in a 400-4 vote, approved...