50 green cards holders? The total number of green card holders is 12.8 million.
Right?
Pay in some professions is still way better than in their home countries.
Almost all my friends in Canada want to move here. 5 times more Canadians move to the US than Americans move to Canada. That's a damning statistic given that Canada's population is 10% of the US population - so on a per capita basis, it's a ratio of 50x.
They can't ever articulate the freedoms, I think we just have good propaganda, but the desire is certainly there.
The relative ease of transitioning to a permanent status meant there was a greater incentive to invest in living in the US, both in material and cultural terms. That may now diminish, and immigrants may remit more of their wealth as a hedge. For immigrants of some countries, that has already been something on the mind now since much before even the first Trump administration. Even transitioning to permanent status has become much harder, leave alone obtaining citizenship.
Maybe this administration's stricter (and scarier style of) enforcement may spur that shift now, but it would have been foolish of immigrants from some countries to have not paid attention at all to the changing conditions over the last 10-15 years.
As a citizen, it saddens me that this administration is reducing incentives for new immigrants to invest here - buy properties, start businesses, start relationships etc. Immigrants will still come to make what they can, and then leave with all that experience and some of those assets, when that could have benefited the country. I am of course hardly the only person noticing how the drive to satisfy the nativist vote is leaving us kicking this gift horse in the mouth.
- When you apply for a green card (through employment or marriage), you can optionally apply for a work card (technically and Employment Authorization Document or EAD). Prior to this administration you'd get that in a few months and your green card might take longer. Now, USCIS basically sits on these forever and never issues them. People are getting their green cards first. For some people this is adding a year or more where they cannot legally work. It's cruelty by design;
- For marriage cases, you file 2 petitions: an I130 and an I485. The I130 just proves that you were free to marry and the marriage is legal. The I485 is the adjustment-of-status ("AoS"). It seems like USCIS is, in many cases, approving the I130 but just sitting on the I485, forcing the petitioner to sue in Federal court. Again, it's a delaying tactic;
- Immigration court judges aren't what's called Article 3 judges. Article 3 judges enjoy a constitutional position. They must be approved by the Senate and can't be fired. They have to be impeached, which almost never happens. So non-Article 3 judges are subject to political pressure and can be fired at wsill. In this administration, if a judge rules in favor of immigrants too often they get fired. In the last month, all the immigration judges in San Francisco got fired, for example;
- In the first Trump administration, Title 42 was invoked to keep out immigrants for health concerns. The Biden administration continued this through the pandemic;
- If you get a green card through marriage and you're married for less than 2 years you get a conditional green card. It's valid for only 2 years. After 2 years you have to apply for removal of conditions. USCIS basically sits on these cases forever with processing times taking 2+ years. The only thing that causes the case to be adjudicated is when a spouse applies for citizenship under the 3 year rule;
- The Biden administration had a program called CBP One, which admitted people into the US. The Trump administration has taken the position that these people were entering without inspection ("EWI"), which is the same category as people who sneak across the border. That's a big deal because in most cases people who EWI need a waiver to adjust status and the bar for that waiver is pretty high;
- During the pandemic many people had interviews waived for various reasons. The Trump administration has taken the position that anyone who had a benefit approved without an interview has to have their entire case re-adjudicated to a high bar;
- The vast majority of this out of status in the US aren't illegal border crossers. They're visa overstayers who entered through regular points of entry. The Trump administration has taken the position that anyone taken into ICE custody who is out-of-status cannot be bonded out if they entered without inspection. This leads people to be held in concentration camps, basically, for months or a year or more, even if they've been working and paying taxes for 20+ years;
- This administration more than any previous is looking back at your entire immigration history for any misrepresentations. If they find something, even if it's trivial, they can deny your benefit and even revoke your green card (or even go for denaturalization);
- They've greatly expanded what constitutes misrepresentation. For example, if you come on a student visa and get married in 6-12 months, USCIS may argue you lied on your student visa application and had immigrant intent, particularly if they find any link to the person you married. This could be something as simple as you were acquainted with them in your home country;
- In some cases, they're taking people into ICE custody at their USCIS interviews or their annual check-ins. USCIS officers have a process of how to coordinate this with ICE;
- When someone is taken into ICE custody, they're often quickly moved out of that Federal district to avoid a habeas petition going before a friendly Federal judge for their release. This is how so many detainees can end up in Louisiana within 24-48 hours because that district has been packed with conservative appointees who are far more friendly to the administration.
So, what's the program the NYT is talking about? There is a theory going around that USCIS is working on an integration project with Palantir. Part of the reason, the theory goes, for approving the I130 and sitting on the I485 (as mentioned above), is to delay the case until this system comes online. What exactly this system is and what it looks at is unknown. But it's fair to say it'll look way more broadly at existing data, quite possibly including third-party private data from data brokers.
Likely this new system will also be looking at all your social media posts to identify anything "problematic".
So I believe this is a test of 2000 cases in this new system.
Yes compared to developed countries the US may look bad, but most of the world is below the US. Stuff like ICE simply doesn't even register. They've killed only a handful of people.
It's funny you use education and healthcare as choices, whereby the education and healthcare you receive depends greatly on where you live in the US and how much you earn. Education not having blanket standards, irrelevant of religion, does not suggest high quality.
1. Why would one move to the US (presumably long term)?
2. Why would one come to study in the US?
The calculus is quite different between the two, because one can come just for the degree and leave.
Regarding 1:
It depends what degree you're hoping to earn in the US, and how many kids you plan to have ;-)
Pretty much anywhere in the US, with a SW engineering degree, you can ensure your kids have a decent education. And if you can't, you can simply move. SW folks are amongst the least tied geographically. Ditto for healthcare (at least in terms of affordability - quality may be great or middling, but usually not terrible).
But really, other than wages, the reason many choose to move to the US is language. They already know English. There aren't that many other options. The UK can be a really, really crappy place. I know many people who moved to the UK, spent anywhere from 5-20 years there, and moved out because of their social problems. They are all happier - including those who relocated to the US.
Beyond the UK, the main choices are Canada and Australia. Canada was the darling until recently. IIRC, a year or two ago it was ranked worst or second worst in terms of affordability amongst all OECD countries. As I mentioned in another thread, on a per capita basis, 50x more Canadians move to the US than vice versa. Every one of my Canadian friends who moved to the US said "Socially it was great, but kept having trouble finding jobs and paying bills when I had jobs". Some miss the healthcare, but most don't. Overall the education may be better there, but they all feel their kids are getting a better education in the US because they can afford to live in places with good schools. A few plan to move back when they retire.
(Don't get me wrong, if I had huge piles of cash, I'd move to BC in a heartbeat. But I don't have that money.)
Australia/New Zealand is the only real viable alternative. Most people I know who moved there 10+ years ago are happy. The recent ones are less so - and the worry is it's becoming Canada (unaffordable + low pay). Still, they like it enough that they don't consider moving to the US.
As to number 2 above, especially in the context of graduate degrees: It's simple. For most of the world, a US PhD is extremely valuable (compared to, say, one from Australia). So it's a no-brainer to understand why they'd come here for a PhD. Easy to find jobs elsewhere.