US Immigration News

Mitt Romney will campaign for the presidency of the United States in November on a hard line anti-illegal immigration policy. The new 'platform plank' was adopted by Republican Party leaders just days before the party's National Convention next week and some believe that it will make it difficult for Mr Romney to gain the support of Hispanic voters at the election. If the election is close, then, experts believe, immigration could become a decisive factor in some states where it is an important issue to voters.

John Kennan, an economist from the University of Wisconsin, has built an economic model which suggests that wages in the developing world would more than double from an average of US$8,903 to an average of US$19,272 if all immigration controls were abolished. His model assumes that the majority of people would migrate to gain higher wages while a minority would stay where they were because they felt a strong attachment to their home surroundings.

President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme comes into force today (Wednesday 15th August 2012). The scheme allows some young illegal immigrants to apply for a determination granting them freedom from deportation proceedings for a two year period. Successful applicants will then be allowed to apply for a permit to work in the US.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has launched a campaign calling for relaxation of the US's immigration laws. The campaign is timed to influence the candidates in the United States presidential election which will be held on November 6th 2012.

A new study has found that US state legislatures passed fewer immigration laws this year; lawmakers' priorities focused on balancing budgets. In addition US courts debated how much authority state police have to enforce immigration laws compared to federal authorities. This has delayed some proposed immigration related legislation.

Indian outsourcing giant, Infosys Technologies, is being investigated by federal authorities over visa fraud and is facing a second lawsuit over alleged abuse of the US work visa system.A former Infosys account manager filed a lawsuit on 2 August in Northern California's US District Court. Satya Dev Tripuraneni claims he was punished after raising concerns with federal authorities that Infosys may be misusing US visas.