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WASHINGTON As Washington remains gridlocked over comprehensive immigration reform, an effort to help tackle the human trafficking crisis at the southern border is picking up bipartisan support.

Sen. MarshaBlackburn, R-Tenn., will introduce legislation Tuesday that would authorize $50 million to aid state and local governments along with nongovernmental organizations in combating the smuggling of young women and girls. The Stopping the Abuse, Victimization and Exploitation of Girls (SAVE Girls) Act seeks to prevent the trafficking and smuggling of vulnerable women across the country in particular, those who have been brought illegally across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The legislation has garnered buy-in across the aisle, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., throwing her support behindBlackburn's bill. Blackburn argues that addressing the humanitarian issue at the border shouldnt be partisan, even as immigration continues to be a politically contentious subject.

The bill comes after Blackburn traveled to the border on a congressional delegation with two fellow female Republican senators in January. She, along with Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and freshman Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., told NBC News in an interview that border patrol agents along the Rio Grande begged for help in combating the trafficking problem.

Lets work together. Lets work in a bipartisan basis, Blackburn said, pointing to trafficking and the fentanyl epidemic as possible areas of compromise. Lets pass some things that are going to help secure this border, that are going to protect our children, that are going to protect our communities so that parents know when your kids go to college, theyre safe.

The trio, along with Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., introduced a separate bill in February that prohibits anyone charged with human or drug trafficking from drawing federal funding or benefits while they await prosecution. (If people are acquitted or charges are dropped, they'd be given back pay or benefits, according to a Blackburn fact sheet about the StopTaxpayer Funding of Traffickers Act.)

The bill does not have any Democratic co-sponsors. Asked about the legislation, a spokesperson for Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Gary Peters, D-Mich., pointed to his sponsorship of a separate bipartisan bill aimed at increasing support for victims of human trafficking.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement the department is reviewing the Republicans' StopTaxpayer Funding of Traffickers Act. "From day one, this Administration has ramped up efforts to crack down on human smugglers and drug traffickers," the spokesperson added. "Weve secured record funding for border security, launched an unprecedented anti-smuggling campaign with regional partners, and expanded legal pathways for immigration to cut out the smuggling networks preying on vulnerable migrants."

DHS launched a$60 million campaignin 2022 to dismantle human smuggling networks, resulting in the arrest of over 8,800 smugglers and the disruption of nearly 9,000 smuggling operations over the past year, per the department. DHS says that it is also deploying new high-tech solutions to crack down on criminal networks andthat it hasseized more drugs andarrestedmore people on fentanyl-related charges in the last two years than in the previous five years combined.

Prospects for comprehensive immigration reform remain dim in the Republican-led House and Democratic-led Senate. After record-high border crossings in 2022, 72% of Americans now say Congress should prioritize increasing border security, according to a January NBC News poll. But 80% in the same survey also said Congress should provide a legal pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who meet certain requirements.

Instead, many Republicans in the House are pursuing efforts to revive the Trump administration-era border wall and crack down on asylum-seekers.

When I was in the House, we tried to work on this issue in a constructive manner,Blackburn said, while pointing the finger at Democrats. And its disappointing to us that some of our colleagues across the aisle are wanting the issue and not the solution.

Blackburn, Hyde-Smith and Britt say they are working together to address the problem, in part, because of something they all share: They are mothers.

I think it has a lot to do with it, Hyde-Smith said. I have a small shoe on my desk that I picked up that came out of the Rio Grande River. And I will always keep that shoe on that desk so we can remember we got to continue to tell the story.

As a mama, Britt shared, when you look and you see those little shoes, when you see a 6-month-old baby trembling because they just got out of the water ... you realize that this crisis has a huge cost.

Liz Brown-Kaiser covers Capitol Hill for NBC News.

JulieTsirkin is acorrespondent covering Capitol Hill.

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Bill targeting the smuggling of girls gets bipartisan support as Congress deadlocks over broader immigration reform - NBC News

Sofia Cava| Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Recently I traveled to Washington D.C., as one of 10 students involved with Define America, the student group that aims to amplify the voices of the immigrant community in our country.

The purpose of our trip was to meet with representatives and senators in Washington to lobby for immigration reform. We sought to do this by holding these elected officials accountable for past promises and by pushing them to support or oppose certain bills.

It seemed simple: We were going to engage in difficult conversations and walk out feeling hopeful about the future. But we could not have been more wrong. What we encountered instead was a widespread sense of defeat.

As we spoke to staff members representing the various elected officials, we were assured that "Senator X" or "Representative Y" cared deeply about immigration reform but that they were unable to enact meaningful change. The system is broken, they told us (as if our own experiences hadnt already taught us that).

The responses caused the morale of our group to wane with each meeting we held.

The staffer we spoke to from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warrens office gave us the most honest, if disheartening, feedback of the whole trip. Yes, there are bills being introduced to support immigration reform, she said but no, there is no confidence that anything will change. Because there has been no real immigration reform in decades, the time and effort needed to implement proactive policies is now being drained away by urgent attempts to stop the continued undermining of immigrant rights.

Each time an elected official in Washington tries to introduce legislation to fix the immigration system, we were told, they are met with bullheadedness from the opposition and cowardice from those supposedly dedicated to reform.

I asked myself what could be done. The solution is simple, but implementing it is not.

Look at the steps that have been taken to swiftly allow Ukrainian refugees to enter the country and then look at the systemic barriers faced by their Hispanic counterparts who seek refuge. One group is deemed the victim of an unjustified war perpetuated by an international war criminal while the other is stigmatized as full of criminals, drug dealers and job thieves.

Both groups face life-threatening conditions at home, and both are left with no option but to flee.

But one is white, the other brown.

It is time we stop looking at Hispanic immigrants as statistics. These are human beings who possess the same fears and aspirations shared by all groups of people. They are individuals who are willing to travel thousands of miles despite knowing they will face mistreatment in a foreign country and they do so because they also know the conditions at home are far worse. That's why as long as the problems in Central and South America persist, people are going to keep coming to the United States.

Its hard to blame someone for doing everything possible to make a better life for themselves and their families. You would likely do the same. So I urge you to stand up for immigration reform. It will be a difficult process, but it will only be harder and longer if those of us who yearn for change accept defeat.

The magnitude of the challenge should inspire us to keep holding our public officials accountable by signing petitions, having difficult conversations, raising awareness and humanizing immigrants. By taking these simple steps on our own, we can overcome the racism and polarization that are obstacles to a more equitable and humane immigration system.

Sofia Cava is a Sarasota native and a first-year student at Duke University, where she is studying public policy and human rights. She is a graduate of Cardinal Mooney High School.

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Too many lawmakers have given up on immigration reform - but we won't - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

WASHINGTON As Washington remains gridlocked over comprehensive immigration reform, an effort to help tackle the human trafficking crisis at the southern border is picking up bipartisan support.

Sen. MarshaBlackburn, R-Tenn., will introduce legislation Tuesday that would authorize $50 million to aid state and local governments along with nongovernmental organizations in combating the smuggling of young women and girls. The Stopping the Abuse, Victimization and Exploitation of Girls (SAVE Girls) Act seeks to prevent the trafficking and smuggling of vulnerable women across the country in particular, those who have been brought illegally across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The legislation has garnered buy-in across the aisle, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., throwing her support behindBlackburn's bill. Blackburn argues that addressing the humanitarian issue at the border shouldnt be partisan, even as immigration continues to be a politically contentious subject.

The bill comes after Blackburn traveled to the border on a congressional delegation with two fellow female Republican senators in January. She, along with Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and freshman Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., told NBC News in an interview that border patrol agents along the Rio Grande begged for help in combating the trafficking problem.

Lets work together. Lets work in a bipartisan basis, Blackburn said, pointing to trafficking and the fentanyl epidemic as possible areas of compromise. Lets pass some things that are going to help secure this border, that are going to protect our children, that are going to protect our communities so that parents know when your kids go to college, theyre safe.

The trio, along with Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., introduced a separate bill in February that prohibits anyone charged with human or drug trafficking from drawing federal funding or benefits while they await prosecution. (If people are acquitted or charges are dropped, they'd be given back pay or benefits, according to a Blackburn fact sheet about the StopTaxpayer Funding of Traffickers Act.)

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, and Sen. Katie Britt. (Frank Thorp V / NBC News)

The bill does not have any Democratic co-sponsors. Asked about the legislation, a spokesperson for Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Gary Peters, D-Mich., pointed to his sponsorship of a separate bipartisan bill aimed at increasing support for victims of human trafficking.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement the department is reviewing the Republicans' StopTaxpayer Funding of Traffickers Act. "From day one, this Administration has ramped up efforts to crack down on human smugglers and drug traffickers," the spokesperson added. "Weve secured record funding for border security, launched an unprecedented anti-smuggling campaign with regional partners, and expanded legal pathways for immigration to cut out the smuggling networks preying on vulnerable migrants."

DHS launched a$60 million campaignin 2022 to dismantle human smuggling networks, resulting in the arrest of over 8,800 smugglers and the disruption of nearly 9,000 smuggling operations over the past year, per the department. DHS says that it is also deploying new high-tech solutions to crack down on criminal networks andthat it hasseized more drugs andarrestedmore people on fentanyl-related charges in the last two years than in the previous five years combined.

Prospects for comprehensive immigration reform remain dim in the Republican-led House and Democratic-led Senate. After record-high border crossings in 2022, 72% of Americans now say Congress should prioritize increasing border security, according to a January NBC News poll. But 80% in the same survey also said Congress should provide a legal pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who meet certain requirements.

Instead, many Republicans in the House are pursuing efforts to revive the Trump administration-era border wall and crack down on asylum-seekers.

When I was in the House, we tried to work on this issue in a constructive manner,Blackburn said, while pointing the finger at Democrats. And its disappointing to us that some of our colleagues across the aisle are wanting the issue and not the solution.

Blackburn, Hyde-Smith and Britt say they are working together to address the problem, in part, because of something they all share: They are mothers.

I think it has a lot to do with it, Hyde-Smith said. I have a small shoe on my desk that I picked up that came out of the Rio Grande River. And I will always keep that shoe on that desk so we can remember we got to continue to tell the story.

As a mama, Britt shared, when you look and you see those little shoes, when you see a 6-month-old baby trembling because they just got out of the water ... you realize that this crisis has a huge cost.

Originally published April 11, 2023, 11:50 AM

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Bipartisan bill to combat smuggling of girls introduced amid gridlock over immigration reform - AOL

While the U.S. labor market continues to rebalance from the pandemic, it faces setbacks from immigration.

U.S. officials have pointed to increased immigration as a way to relieve some of the labor shortages and skills gaps in the workforce, and a new survey suggests many Americans may agree.

Over 56% of Americans believe that highly skilled immigrants help the U.S. economy, according to a Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) and Morning Consult survey of 2,006 registered voters. However, when asked a more general question about if immigrants help or hurt the U.S. economy, respondents were almost equally divided (35% help versus 32% hurt).

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"Our survey didnt ask people why they felt the way they do, but I think there seems to be a general feeling that people with higher levels of skills or education are more impactful for the economy than those without," Theresa Cardinal Brown, BPCs senior advisor for Immigration and Border Policy, told Yahoo Finance.

High-skilled migration is defined by the Migration Research Hub as "the movement of persons who normally possess university education (ISCED 5-6), extensive experience, or a combination of the two."

Foreign-born STEM workers are a prime example of high-skilled immigrants, but according to Cardinal Brown, these workers can get lost in the conversation around immigration reform.

"There is a generalized inclination when talking about immigrants to think of either undocumented immigrants or those more visible in the workforce in lesser-skilled jobs such as hospitality, construction, janitorial and other services," Cardinal Brown said.

Public support isn't necessarily reflected in the number of highly skilled immigrants entering the U.S.

Although migration rates have returned to pre-pandemic levels, they still show a steady drop since 2016. The number of work visas issued in the U.S. hit a record low in 2021 at 201,000, according to estimates from the Census Bureau.

Immigrant visas or permanent resident (green card) application backlogs that piled up during the pandemic decreased last month by 6,000, but there are still more than 300,000 cases waiting to be processed. These backlogs have prevented highly skilled immigrants from obtaining work authorization.

Additionally, there's a lack of knowledge among many Americans about visa processes, which has exacerbated the growing issue.

Over 38% of U.S. voters said they had no knowledge of the average wait time to obtain an employment-specific green card, according to BPC's survey, which may shape public perception of immigration. Depending on nationality and other factors, average wait times for green cards can range anywhere from two years to 11 years.

"In general, a lack of understanding about the current system results in many voters not seeing changes to that system as a priority," Cardinal Brown said. "It also results in many disregarding the contributions of immigrants or believing that legal entry is 'too easy' and seeking lower levels of immigration. It also affects lawmakers who come to Congress with little or erroneous understanding of immigration or misperceptions about immigrants themselves."

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Overall, immigrants play a major role in the U.S. economy. In 2019, immigrants paid over $492 billion in total taxes at a time when they made up just 13.5% of the overall U.S. population. Undocumented immigrants also pay taxes.

Consequently, Ben Gitis, associate director of BPCs economic policy program, said that reduced migration of highly skilled workers like those in STEM fields leads to "less innovation, reduced productivity, and lower levels of entrepreneurship, all of which will harm job creation and slow economic growth."

As of 2019, immigrants made up 23.1% of all STEM workers in the U.S. at 2.5 million, according to the American Immigration Council. The overall number of STEM workers more than doubled between 2000 and 2019.

Fewer immigrants mean fewer taxes for the government and a lower workforce participation rate, which can cause long-term impacts to federal programs like Social Security, according to the Urban Institute.

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The U.S. workforce is also aging more than one in six Americans are now 65 or older. In highly skilled computer or math occupations, U.S.-born workers will likely reach retirement sooner than foreign-born workers, according to Steven Hubbard, senior data scientist at the American Immigration Council.

"While many jobs will be filled by young people aging into the workforce, demographic trends suggest that the workforce in 2030 will need more immigrant workers," Hubbard told Yahoo Finance. "Because Gen Z is likely to produce fewer people aging into the workforce than will be leaving it, more workers will need to come from abroad to fill the growing shortage of American workers. Otherwise, these positions will go unfilled."

Tanya is a data reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @tanyakaushal00.

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A majority of Americans support immigration of highly skilled workers, report finds - Yahoo Finance

FILE - Migrants wait to cross the U.S.-Mexico border from Ciudad Jurez, Mexico, next to U.S. Border Patrol vehicles in El Paso, Texas, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Biden administration from ending a Trump-era policy requiring asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez, File)

As debate over how to handle immigration along the southern border continues, new data shows just how much the recent surge of migrants could cost American taxpayers.

PART 1:{{ }}{{ }}As debate over how to handle immigration along the southern border continues, new data shows just how much the recent surge of migrants could cost American taxpayers. (TND){{ }}

A new study from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimates that overall, illegal immigration costs American taxpayers at least $151 billion a year for things like education, welfare and medical costs.

The report notes that on an individual basis, an American taxpayer is shelling out almost $1,200 per year.

FAIR arrived at this number by "subtracting the tax revenue paid by illegal aliens just under $232 billion from the gross negative economic impact of illegal immigration: $182 billion.

Migrants stand near the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Monday, Dec. 19, 2022. Pandemic-era immigration restrictions in the U.S. known as Title 42 are set to expire on Dec. 21. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)

However, an expert at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank, said FAIR is presenting a faulty analysis because the report counts the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants, who are American citizens, as a cost factor. It also does not include the tax contributions of those American citizens.

The Cato Institute has its own analysis that looks at the economic impact of all immigrants, regardless of legal status. Their report shows that in 2018, for every $1.43 a first-generation immigrant pays in taxes, they consume $1 in government benefits, while native-born Americans pay $0.72 in taxes for every $1 they receive in government benefits.

The Fact Check Team reached out to the White House yesterday for their estimate but has not heard back.

PART 2: As debate over how to handle immigration along the southern border continues, new data shows just how much the recent surge of migrants could cost American taxpayers. (TND)

Sanctuary cities are struggling to keep up with the influx of migrants.

For example, in New York City, Mayor Eric Adams says the city has seen more than 50,000 asylum seekers within the last year and the city estimates it could cost as much as $2 billion in 2023. Because of the influx, last week, Adams ordered city agencies to cut a combined $1.1 billion from their budgets every year for the next four years.

In Chicago, last month the City Council approved $20 million for things like emergency food and shelter for migrants.

Last week, government officials in Denver, Colorado estimated the cost of housing migrants in the city could be as much as $20 million for a six-month period.

The federal government is stepping in to help. The governments 2023 budget includes an additional $800 million for FEMA to help communities experiencing large numbers of migrants. Additionally, the Biden administration announced earlier this year that they were increasing funding available to border cities and those cities receiving an influx of migrants.

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Fact Check Team: How much is the migrant influx costing American taxpayers? - KEYE TV CBS Austin