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The lead item in Politicos signature morning newsletter asked if a certain public figure was losing his mind. His rants made him seem ever more unhinged. Then again, they might be theatrical, a way to keep you guessing as to whether hes just putting you on.

Those words, or their rough equivalents, were used scores if not hundreds of times to describe Donald Trump.

But they were written last Tuesday about Tucker Carlson. And they settled the matter: Hes the new Trump. Not Ron DeSantis. Not Josh Hawley. Not Rick Scott. Certainly not Ted Cruz.

Those other men are vying merely for Trumps political mantle, with the occasional side trip to Cancn.

Carlson is seizing Trumps theatrical mantle as well.

Moving to fill the empty space created by Trumps ejection from the White House, his banishment from social media and his petulant quasi-hibernation, Carlson is triggering the libs like Trump triggered the libs. Hes animating the pundits like Trump animated the pundits.

Case in point: Carlsons endlessly denounced, exhaustively parsed jeremiad against masks on his Fox News show on Monday night.

Your response when you see children wearing masks as they play should be no different from your response to seeing someone beat a kid at Walmart, Carlson railed. Call the police immediately. Contact child protective services. Keep calling until someone arrives. What youre looking at is abuse. Its child abuse.

What lunatic hyperbole. What ludicrous histrionics. And what timing. Carlson shares Trumps knack for that for figuring out precisely when, for maximum effect, to pour salt into a civic wound.

His free-the-children bunk played on the weariness of more than a year of coronavirus vigilance. It came just as Americans were puzzling over the need for masks once theyre vaccinated or when theyre outdoors. It was juiced by arguments about what degree of caution remains necessary and whats just muscle memory or virtue signaling.

And it was helpfully succinct and tidily packaged so that other commentators could tee off on it. Carlson understands what Trump always has and what every practiced provocateur does: You dont just give your detractors agita. You give them material. That way, everything you say has a lengthy half-life and durable shelf life.

Several shows on MSNBC covered Carlsons rant. Several shows on CNN, too. The View waded in. So did Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel. When youre the subject of late-night comedians monologues, youve really made it.

Just two and a half weeks earlier, another of Carlsons soliloquies in which he peddled the far-right paranoia about a Democratic Party scheme to have dark-skinned invaders from developing countries supplant white Christian Americans became its own news story, making him more of an actor in our national drama than a chronicler of it.

It was hardly his first lament about immigration, and he had dabbled in the great replacement theory before. But this time around it was more helpfully succinct, more tidily packaged, more honed. Every time they import a new voter, I become disenfranchised as a current voter, he fumed. I have less political power because they are importing a brand-new electorate.

He made voters sound like Mazdas and America like a car lot.

Like Trump, he has decided that virality is its own reward. And hes being amply rewarded, as exemplified in this very column. Id prefer to ignore him, but I face the same irreconcilable considerations that all the others who arent ignoring him do.

To give him attention is to play into his hands, but to do the opposite is to play ostrich. In April, his 8 p.m. Eastern show drew an average nightly audience of about three million viewers. That made him the most-watched of any cable news host ahead of Sean Hannity, ahead of Rachel Maddow and it meant that he was both capturing and coloring how many Americans felt about current events. His outbursts, no matter how ugly, are relevant.

Remind you of anyone now clomping through the sand traps near Mar-a-Loco?

The amount of real estate that Carlson occupies in political newsletters that I subscribe to seems to have grown in proportion to the amount that Trump has lost. (Thats my own replacement theory.) And it proves that we need not just villains but also certain kinds of villains: ones whose unabashed smugness, unfettered cruelty and undisguised sense of superiority allow us to return fire unsparingly and work out our own rage. Carlson, again like Trump, is cathartic.

Trumps dominance was so profound from early 2016 through early 2021 that theres now something of an obsession with naming his successor, even though its not at all clear that hes willing to be succeeded. All the men I mentioned earlier covet that crown. But not all of them fully understand that Trumps mtier wasnt politics. It was performance.

Carlson gets that. If advancing arguments was his exclusive or primary goal, he wouldnt allow for so much confusion regarding the flavor of his invective. But debates about whether hes genuinely making points or disingenuously pressing buttons might well be a ratings boon. To keep people guessing is to keep people tuned in.

Im not saying that hes Trumps doppelgnger. Hes neither orange nor ostentatious enough. He can be as verbally dexterous as Trump is oratorically incontinent, as brimming with information as Trump is barren of it. Carlson reminds you of a prep school debate team captain all puffed up at his lectern. Trump reminds you of a puffy reality-show ham what he was before he rode that escalator downward, a harbinger of the countrys trajectory under him.

But both barge through the contradictions of being both populists and plutocrats. Both pretend to be bad boys while living like good old boys. Both market bullying as bravery.

Part of the appeal of Carlsons show is its tendency to generate knockouts rather than split decisions, Kelefa Sanneh wrote in an excellent profile of Carlson in The New Yorker in 2017. His unofficial Reddit page features pictures of guests judged to have performed especially poorly; over each face is written wasted.

That wasted reminds me of Trumps loser. Its the vocabulary of mockery, a sport in which Carlson is a champion. But its stranger when played by him than when played by Trump, who never pretended to be thoughtful. Carlson was thoughtful, back in the days when he was writing long articles for ambitious magazines.

Then came television and then high-decibel duels on television and then Trump, the shark to Carlsons pilot fish. Carlson, who flattered him, got the time slot on Fox News that had belonged to Megyn Kelly, who feuded with Trump.

And now? The pilot fish has grown his own mighty jaws, and the oceans only a little bit safer.

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Opinion | Tucker Carlson Is the New Donald Trump - The New York Times

Audio articles on Wilson County News made possible by Witte's Bar-B-Que Steaks & Catering in La Vernia, "home of the chicken fried ribeye!"

A dozen South Texas counties have declared a state of disaster due to the growing illegal immigration crisis. Announcing that health, life and property [are under] imminent threat, beleaguered officials say the influx of border crossers is cannibalizing their limited resources.

This is getting crazier and crazier and crazier, said Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin Jr., who reported numerous chases had occurred in his town over a 15-minute span on a recent evening.

Even counties that have yet to declare emergencies encounter daily run-ins with daredevil coyotes and their illegal alien cargo. A high-speed chase in West Texas last month ended in the backyard of the Presidio County sheriffs home. As with most such pursuits, migrants bailed out and eluded authorities.

Motels in rural communities are filling up with asylum-seeking migrants. The federal government and social-service agencies like Endeavors pay for their transportation, room, and board. But local hospitals, schools, and law enforcement, left to fend for themselves, are straining to the breaking point. There has been no surge in assistance for border counties, Jackson County Sheriff A.J. Louderback told a congressional delegation in the Rio Grande Valley town of Edinburg last month.

Far beyond the border, 90-plus illegal aliens were found crammed inside a Houston home last week, apparent victims of a human-smuggling operation. Days before, 33 Guatemala nationals turned up in a stash house in Midland, a Permian Basin oil city. In San Antonio, unaccompanied minors from a migrant detention center were reportedly released to traffickers.

If, through its feckless and reckless policies, the U.S. government has become the logistics arm of the cartels, as Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., suggested in Edinburg, Texans and migrants are paying a terrible price.

Gov. Greg Abbott has not declared a statewide emergency and declined to activate National Guard units requested by the disaster-declaring jurisdictions. But the Republican did direct all 254 counties to submit an accounting of illegal alien-related costs, which he will forward to Washington for reimbursement. (Good luck with that.)

Before Joe Biden moved into the White House, FAIR [Federation for American Immigration Reform] estimated that illegal immigration cost the Lone Star State more than $11 billion a year. As Texas counties count their expenses from this ongoing border crisis, the tab has nowhere to go but up.

This article originally appeared at http://www.immigrationreform.com. Reprinted with permission.

reader@wcn-online.com

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Texas counties declare a disaster; governor will send Biden the bill for immigration costs - Wilson County News

If the Bulgarian government is not formed by the GERB party the country will lurch from crisis to crisis, outgoing prime minister and GERB leader Boyko Borissov said on Monday.

Borissov is convinced that his political opponents in parliament cannot make decisions, are afraid to take responsibility for the government, and that such uncertainty will lead the country into a string of new crises.

Borissovs party, GERB, won the parliamentary elections in April but failed to obtain the majority required to form the next government. The party has already returned the mandate and early elections will probably take place in July.

You will now see the credit agencies ratings will start going down, interest rates will rise and we will not enter the Eurozone, then we will all regret it bitterly, Borissov warned. We saved them from the Greek crisis, from the migrant crisis, from the pandemic, he added.

According to Borissov, the goal of the new parties in parliament is to provoke a series of elections so that a caretaker government appointed by the president will run until the presidential election in the autumn.

GERB announced that the newly-elected MPs are new barbarians. The main topic of GERBs criticism was of changes to the Electoral Code passed by lawmakers late last week even though the PMs party opposed them.

(Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg)

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Borissov warns that without the GERB party, Bulgaria will enter crisis mode - EURACTIV

Adequate responses to migration flows have been increasingly hampered in Europe by policies that limit freedom of movement and foster stigmatisation of humanitarian assistance. [1,2] These policies are based on a restrictive interpretation of refugee laws, overuse of detention centres, limitation of access to health services, and criminalisation of migrants. [3-5] Even if most legal instruments recognise the right to health for all, including people on the move, the health needs of migrants remain neglected. [6] Furthermore, organisations conducting lifesaving search and rescue operations often face accusations of colluding with human traffickers. [7]

This scenario has become even more complex after the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. Firstly, border controls and measures for restricting mobility have been tightened as part of the pandemic response, with a severe impact on refugees and migrants access to adequate healthcare services and information. [7-9] Secondly, inadequate living conditions, such as overcrowded and informal housing in the countries of transit or arrival, increase the risk of contracting covid-19 as well as other infections. [10] Thirdly, pandemic-related logistical constraints caused a slowdown of search and rescue operations in the central Mediterranean Sea and formed an obstacle to provide humanitarian help for asylum seekers. Based on our experience at Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF), search and rescue operations and health assistance during the migration journey are essential for an adequate response to migrant flows and for adequately tackling migrants health needs, including those related to the pandemic, as part of a coordinated public health approach.

Health and human rights along during migration journeys

From 3 May 2015 up to 31 December 2019, 339,476 migrants had been rescued in the central Mediterranean Sea by different stakeholders such as institutional organisations, NGOs, commercial actors including fishermen, coordinated by the Italian Coast Guard. [11] Of these, 81,186were either rescued or transferred by MSF vessels. [12] Between 1 January and the 30 September 2018, MSF rescued 3,184 people and conducted 1,385 on-board consultations. [13] The most common problems were benzene, chemical burns (86/1,385; 6.2%), wounds (70/1,385, 5.1%), hypothermia (62/1,385, 4.5%), and violence related injuries (39/1,385, 2.8%). Out of 3,184 individuals, 464 (14.6%) belonged to pre-specified categories of vulnerability: 81/464 (17.5%) were unaccompanied minors, 216/464 (46.6%) were victims of torture/ill treatment, 121/464 (26.1%) were survivors of sexual violence and 27/464 (5.8%) were possible victims of sexual trafficking. Most of them had transited via Libya, a key country for migration routes.

The EU and some member states have adopted policies that delegate the control of migrant flows, by making neighbouring countries such as Libya act as Europes de facto border guards. [14] These policies have prompted cruel detention systems and created unprecedented human suffering, with people subject to long-term detention in centres run by the Libyan interior ministry or local militias, often in inhuman conditions. [15-18] For example, it is reported that between 1 September 2018 and 31 of May 2019, at least 22 people died in Zintan and Gharyan detention centres. [19] Nutritional screening undertaken by MSF at the Sabaa detention centre (Tripoli) among 205 individuals in February 2019, found that one in four people were malnourished or underweight. [20] In 2018, MSF helped 1,783 migrants who had reached Italy after having been exposed to torture during their journey. [21] It is very likely that those forcibly returned to Libya will re-enter the same cycle of violence.

More recent data suggest that fewer search and rescue operations were conducted in 2020 than in previous years, both before and after the adoption of pandemic containment measures. The 2,300 people held in detention centres across Libya up to July 2020 were reportedly kept in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions, with poor access to food and water and no possibility to adopt covid-19 containment measures, such as physical distancing. Furthermore, visits by humanitarian organisations to detention centres have been reduced because of pandemic related movement restrictions and insecurity. [22]

Living conditions also tend to be inadequate in the European countries of transit or arrival. A survey carried out in 2015 among an estimated 10,000 migrants living in 27 informal settlements in Italy indicated that 11 settlements lacked running water, 13 electricity, two drinking water and six even toilets. The public health consequences of such situations will only be magnified during a pandemic, as essential public health measures such as social distancing, hand hygiene and self-isolation can hardly be implemented under such circumstances.

Figures from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR, now known as UN Refugee Agency) suggest that fewer people died or went missing in the central Mediterranean Sea in 2020 (473) vs 2019 (750), with a decrease of reported death rates from 3.7% (750/20,506 departures) in 2019 to 1.4% (473/33,953 departures) in 2020. [23,24] However, this may be subject to serious underreporting because of difficulties in collecting data on migrant deaths in 2020. [25]

The decrease in humanitarian search and rescue operations, combined with the lack of any EU led activities, results in an increasingly dangerous void in the central Mediterranean, where the numbers of individuals attempting to make the journey from Libya to Europe dramatically increased in 2020 according to the UNHCR. [26,27] Furthermore, inadequate health assistance during and after the journey, either in reception centres or in informal settlements, makes it impossible to prevent, diagnose, and cure various treatable conditions and it even prevents the adoption of adequate measures to contain the pandemic. The pandemic is providing further evidence that a migrant inclusive health access approach is urgently needed in Europe. Everybody should have access to essential medical services; and during epidemics and pandemics, nobody should be left out of the outbreak response plans. Furthermore, the moral imperative of saving lives should be acknowledged by all stakeholders and policy makers and they should support efforts to rescue those attempting to reach Europe.

As European medical staff and public health specialists serving patients and communities within our own borders and beyond, we should take an ethical stand by speaking out against policies that threaten health, lives and public health, and by combating misinformation. Today more than ever, in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic, solidarity needs to reach beyond national borders. The systematic collection, analysis, sharing, and dissemination of robust and ethical data will be essential for shaping public health and human rights oriented policies, and for contributing to building an inclusive society, able to adequately respond to medical needs including in global emergencies. [28]

Claudia Lodesani, president of MSF Italy. She is an infectious disease specialist and has been working with MSF since 2002. She has coordinated the MSFs intervention for covid-19 in Italy. Twitter: @claudialode

Silvia Mancini, has been working with MSF in many developing countries carrying out epidemiological and public health evaluations. She holds a masters in public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Raffaella Ravinetto, is a senior researcherand policy adviser at the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine (Belgium), and a former president of MSF Italy. Twitter: @RRavinetto

Favila Escobio, family and community medicine specialist. He has been working with MSF since 2013.

Zeno Bisoffi, PhD on Medical Sciences at the University of Antwerp. Since 1 December 2017 he has been associate professor of infectious and tropical diseases, under an agreement with IRCCS Sacro Cuore Don Calabria Hospital, Negrar (Verona).

Competing interests: none declared.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Gianfranco De Maio (1960-2020) for supporting and inspiring us in our work related to humanitarian medicine.

The authors thank Marco Bertotto and the team of Mdecins Sans Frontires/Doctors Without Borders (operational centre Amsterdam) for providing data on search and rescue activity and medical consultations on board.

References:

1. Policy Department for Citizens Rights and Constitutional Affairs Directorate General for Internal Policies of the Union. Fit for purpose? The Facilitation Directive and the criminalisation of humanitarian assistance to irregular migrants: 2018 Update. Brussels: European Parliament; 2018. Available: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2018/608838/IPOL_STU(2018)608838_EN.pdfAccessed 3 January 2020.

2. United Nation Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR). Italy: UN experts condemn bill to fine migrant rescuers. Geneva: United Nations; 2019.Available: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24628&LangID=EAccessed 3 December 2019.

3. Estevens J, Migration crisis in the EU: developing a framework for analysis of national security and defence strategies. Comparative Migration Studies. Issue 6. October 2018. doi: 10.1186/s40878-018-0093.

4. Esposito F, Ornelas J, Arcidiacono C. Migration-related detention centres: the challenges of an ecological perspective with a focus on justice. BMC International Health and Human Rights. 2015. 15:13doi: 10.1186/s12914-015-0052-0. Pmid: 26048135.

5. Prez Efren, Xenophobic Rhetoric and its political effects on immigrants and their co-ethnics. American Journal of Political Sciences. 30 December 2014. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12131.

6. United Nations General Assembly (2016). New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. New York: United Nations; 2016. Available: http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/71/1 Accessed 6 August 2019.

7. Financial Times, EU border force flags concerns over charities interaction with migrant smugglersAvailable: https://www.ft.com/content/3e6b6450-c1f7-11e6-9bca-2b93a6856354and Frontex, Annual Risk Analysis 2017. Available https://frontex.europa.eu/assets/Publications/Risk_Analysis/Annual_Risk_Analysis_2017.pdfAccessed 1 April 2021

8. Kluge HHP, Jakab Z, Bartovic J, DAnna V, Severoni S, Refugee and migration health in the Covid-19 response. The Lancet. 31 March 2020. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/ S0140-6736(20)30791-1.

9. Orcutt M, Patel P, Burns R, Hiam L, Aldridge R, Devakumar D, Kumar B, Spiegel P, Abubakar I, Global call to action for inclusion of migrants and refugees in the Covid-19 response, The Lancet. 23 April 2020. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/ S0140-6736(20)30971-5.

10. World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe Interim Guidance for Refugees and Migrants Health in relation to Covid-19 in WHO European Region. March 2020. Available: https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/434978/Interim-guidance-refugee-and-migrant-health-COVID-19.pdf. Accessed 23 July 2020.

11. Italian Coast Guard. Search and Rescue. Rome: Italian Coast Guard ; 2019.Available: https://www.guardiacostiera.gov.it/attivita/Pages/Ricerca.aspx Accessed 30 January 2020.

12. Mdecins sans Frontires (MSF) Saving Lives at Sea. Interactive map charts and data about MSFs search and rescue activities in the Mediterranean. Available: http://searchandrescue.msf.org/it/Accessed 20 January 2020

13. Mdecins sans Frontires (MSF)/ Doctors Without Borders (operational Centre Amsterdam) routinely collected data on Libya mission and Search and Rescue activities (SAR) 2018.

14. De Gouttry A, Capone F, Sommario E. Dealing with migrants in the Central Mediterranean Route: a legal analysis of bilateral agreements between Italy and Libya. International Migration. Volume 56. Issue 3. P. 44-60. 2017 September 26. doi: 10.1111/imig.12401.

15. Van Aelst H, The Humanitarian Consequences of European Union Immigration Policys Externalisation in Libya: The Case of Detention and its Impact on Migrants Health. BSIS -Brussels School of International Studies Journal of International Studies, Vol 8, 2011.

16. Akkerman M, Expanding the fortress. The policies, the profiteers and the people shaped by EUs border externalisation programme. Transnational Institute and Stop Wapenhandel. Amsterdam: May 2018 Available: https://www.tni.org/en/publication/expanding-the-fortress Accessed 3 December 2019.

17. European Union External Action (EEAS). EU-Libya relations. Brussels: EEAS ; 2019. Available: https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage_en/19163/EU-Libya%20relationsAccessed 30 January 2020.

18. United Nations Support Mission in Libya and United Nation Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR). Desperate and Dangerous: Report on the human rights situation of migrants and refugees in Libya. Marrakesh: United Nations; 2018.Available: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/LY/LibyaMigrationReport.pdfAccessed 7 January 2020.

19. United Nations News. Libyas migrants and refugees with tuberculosis left to die in detention centres. UN news. June 2019. Available: https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/06/1040011Accessed 30 January 2020.

20. Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF). Libya report on nutrition screening findings in Sabaa detention centre. Tripoli; March 2019. Available: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/sites/default/files/2019-03/Libya_Nutrition_Findings_Report.pdf Accessed 12 December 2019.

21. Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF). Medical Activity Report 2018. Available: https://msf.lu/sites/default/files/2018_medical_activity_report.pdf Accessed 10 September 2019.

22. Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF). Search and rescue in the time of COVID-19 MSF briefing paper. London: MSF; 2020.Available:https://www.msf.org.uk/sites/uk/files/msf_briefing_paper_search_and_rescue_in_the_time_of_covid-19.pdf Accessed 7 August 2020.

23. UNHCR The UN Refugee Agency. Europe Dead and missing at sea.Available: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean/location/5205 Accessed 7 October 2020.

24. UNHCR The UN Refugee Agency. Mediterranean Situation.Available: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean. Accessed 5 October 2020.

25. Migration data portal. Available at https:// migrationdataportal.org/de/themes/migration-data-relevant-covid-19-pandemic.

26. Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF). Search and rescue in the time of COVID-19 MSF briefing paper. London: MSF; 2020. Ibidem.

27. UNHCR The UN Refugee Agency. Mediterranean Situation. Ibidem.

28. Consensus Conference for establishing a European level Migration Health database. University of Pecs. Hungary. 7-8 October 2019.Available: https://www.mighealth-unipecs.hu/component/attachments/download/4Accessed 9 October 2019.

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European migration policies should prioritize health needs and life saving strategies - The BMJ - The BMJ

The Guardian

Many foreign-born workers have lost their jobs to the pandemic and strict new visa rules have raised the threat of removal Losing your job is a big deal, and if youre an immigrant it also means losing your status, so its an even bigger deal. Photograph: Hanna Kuprevich/Alamy When Swaraj lost his job amid the recession last year, it triggered a ticking time bomb. Suddenly, he had to either find a different employer to sponsor his visa or return to India, throwing away the life he had built during half a decade in the United States. Its not right, said Swaraj, who asked the Guardian to only use his first name to protect his career. If I lose my work status, I have to leave this country within 60 days. I felt like thats not correct. Swaraj messaged contacts on Linkedin, pored over applications and contacted to references. He tossed excess clothes in the recycling bin and sold his valuables a television, sofa, bed in case he had to move across the world during the crisis. Then, he found a new position. But months later, his room in Madison, Wisconsin, was still empty enough to hear echoes, and he continued to sleep on an air mattress, too wary to invest in replacement furniture. This is not your home, he said. So you can be kicked out any time. Swarajs experience is far from a one-off. From data analysts and software consultants to project engineers and molecular biologists, many foreigners with advanced degrees and specialized knowledge have been losing their jobs in America amid the pandemic. And because theyre only able to live and work legally in the US thanks to their H-1B status a coveted visa for skilled workers routine layoffs that arent their fault have the potential to completely upend their lives. Theres a whole lot of uncertainty and anxiety associated with losing your job, no matter who you are. But when youre an immigrant, that anxiety and uncertainty is definitely compounded, said Jennifer Minear, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Losing your job is a big deal, and if youre an immigrant it also means losing your status, so its an even bigger deal, she added. As the economy foundered and millions of Americans struggled to make ends meet, the former president Donald Trump used immigrants as scapegoats, suspending H-1B visas through early 2021. Officials also unveiled sweeping new rules around the visa program, creating even more hurdles for potential candidates and employers. Swaraj lost an offer soon after because the company that had hired him couldnt comply. Today, I might feel secure, he said. Tomorrow, because of some political situation, things might just change overnight. And I just need to accept that fact. Already, H-1B holders live under precarious conditions where, when they lose employment, theyre only granted a 60-day grace period to find another qualifying role and re-up their visas. Otherwise, they have few viable options outside of leaving the country. Living in the United States without work authorization and trying to work off the books, under the table that doesnt tend to give you the standard of living that I think a lot of college-educated workers, wherever theyre from in the world, would want, said Julia Gelatt, a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. A number of online posts about layoffs amid the economic downturn provides a glimpse into which foreign professionals have been impacted most over the last year. Many hold graduate degrees from American universities, and they often say theyre open to relocating anywhere in the US. One engineer wrote that what hurt the most was being rejected by hiring managers based on my visa status. Another warned that she only had 20 days left before packing everything along with my dreams. It has been roughly 48 hours since I found out that my role at Victorias Secret was affected by the company-wide restructuring, a design researcher wrote. It is tough, defeating, and soul-crushing. The more years that people spend in the US, the deeper the roots they tend to put down Julia Gelatt The H-1B visa program is supposed to offer a temporary avenue for highly educated professionals to work in the US for up to three years, or possibly six. But because the visas are privy to different caps than green cards, Indian and Chinese workers who represent the lions share of H-1B petitions get stuck in a long, byzantine queue for permanent residency. Recently backlogged Indian workers face an impossible wait of nine decades if they all could remain in the line, according to a 2020 report by the Cato Institute. More than 200,000 petitions filed for Indians could expire as a result of the workers dying of old age before they receive green cards. In the meantime, would-be immigrants stay legally by extending their temporary visas, despite the instability that represents. While they wait, they continue to make friends, start relationships, buy houses, join faith communities and have children. The more years that people spend in the United States, the deeper the roots they tend to put down, Gelatt said. It just becomes harder and harder to leave. Swaraj sometimes worries about what would happen if he marries his significant other, who is also on an H-1B visa, and they start a family together in the US. His memories from last year loom large, and for now, hes trying to live as minimalist a life as possible. But over the last five years, hes already started to put down roots. Friends are more like family now, and when he scrambled to come up with a way to stay legally, colleagues went out of their way to help him. I guess thats what I have gained in this country: people, he said. If I was working alone, and if I had no friends, I had no connections, I would have not made it. Like, as simple as that.

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Schumer Actively Exploring Granting Citizenship to Millions of Illegal Immigrants Without GOP Support - Yahoo News