White House Offers New Immigration Regs: Spouses, Skilled Workers Favored

Two new rules help the connected

Even though one of the bigger challenges to becoming a legal immigrant in the United States is getting permission to work here, the latest beneficiaries of new reforms by President Barack Obama's administration are those who already have a bit of a connection: spouses of legal foreign workers.

That's what The Hill is taking away from immigration regulation reforms introduced Tuesday by the White House:

The Obama administration moved Tuesday to allow spouses of foreign workers to take jobs in the United States as part of a slate of new draft immigration regulations.

A pair of rules proposed by the Department of Homeland Security also would make it easier for highly skilled workers from certain countries to remain in the U.S. 

Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the actions would be a boon to American companies who rely on foreign workers, and would serve as a magnet for additional investment in U.S. firms.

"These steps will help the U.S. maintain competitiveness with other countries in our efforts to attract the best and the brightest high-skilled workers from around the world to support companies here at home," Mayorkas said.

Certain nations would be favored in the second rule, like Australia, Chile, and Singapore. Sounds like a confluence of influence, yes?

Why Not More?

Obama used Mexican-American holiday Cinco de Mayo Monday to push for Hispanics to lobby Republican lawmakers for more immigration reform. But his target audience probably won't benefit much from these new rules.

Less than highly skilled and unconnected immigrants are still getting the shaft under the policies. But they shouldn't be left out of the mix. Reason's Shikha Dalmia explains below why even low-skilled immigrants are good for the United States:

Dalmia also wrote more recently about how Hispanic immigrants, the ones who seem so disfavored these days, are integrating just fine into the United States and capturing their own little piece of the American Dream.