What Immigration Reform Needs to Fix, and Avoid
An April 12 editorial calling for comprehensive immigration reform reinforced the misperception that waiver authority granted under Section 102 of the Real ID Act would pertain only to environmental laws that affect the building of a fence along the California border.</br></br>That section would give the secretary of homeland security blanket authority to ignore all federal, state and local laws -- at his discretion and without judicial review -- that he determines would interfere with the construction of barriers and roads along our borders. No federal agency or official has ever been provided with such a blanket exemption from judicial review and the rule of law.</br></br>The Post is correct in saying that the only way to achieve comprehensive immigration reform is to address the problems with our immigration system head-on. Unfortunately, the Real ID Act is a poorly conceived proposal that ignores basic American values of fairness and decency and undermines the rule of law. Congress needs to start over.</br></br>By reporting only the choice between raising the visa quota for foreign tech workers and outsourcing the work to India [Business, April 8], S. Mitra Kalita added to the "confusion" over H-1B visas. Her story ignored the concerns of U.S. workers. In both "choices," an American worker with a college education is deprived of the opportunity to work or enter the field, and U.S. capital heads overseas.</br></br>Importing workers in large numbers fuels a race to the bottom for U.S. workers and employers. The H-1B program has no displacement protections for U.S. workers.