Don’t Meld Immigration Issues

Election-year politics may needlessly doom a sensible, bipartisan bill by Reps. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) and Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) that would raise the cap on the number of skilled foreign professionals who could enter the United States on temporary “H1-B” visas. California’s high-tech companies say they reached the current cap in March and that their businesses will languish for lack of skilled immigrant employees. Some companies have suggested that as a result they will move operations abroad.

Last month, the bill, HR 3983, which would also double the visa fee to $1,000 and use the money to fund U.S. science scholarships and worker training programs, seemed headed for prompt passage. The Clinton administration and top congressional leaders from both parties favored a provision boosting by nearly 75% the number of temporary workers whom U.S. companies could hire from overseas after establishing that their firms were unable to find sufficiently skilled workers in the domestic labor force.

But the bill’s chances for passage slumped last week when Democrats suggested they would attach to the bill an amendment to legalize immigrants who fled El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras in the 1980s but were not covered under a 1997 amnesty for Nicaraguan and Cuban refugees.

With both parties’ presidential conventions only weeks away, political infighting over the issue has reached a fever pitch in Congress. Republicans are reluctant to grant valuable floor time to Democrats who might use it to criticize GOP lawmakers for opposing asylum for some immigrants. Such are the congressional games as the session nears a close.

Republicans are accusing Democrats of pandering to Latino voters by promoting the immigration asylum bill; Democrats accuse Republicans of trying to evade a vote that might foment division within their party. Some anti-immigration segments of the GOP oppose lifting caps even for skilled workers.

If Democratic leaders continue to insist on linking a vote on the H1-B visa bill to a vote on the asylum measure, HR 2722, both of these entirely worthy bills are likely to die.

House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) rightly suggests that a shortage of engineers, mathematicians and other skilled workers in high-tech industries could harmfully dampen what he calls “the white-hot core of this economy.” That’s why Gephardt should speed consideration of the Dreier/Lofgren bill.

The Central American immigrant bill is an important and legitimate one. High-tech workers and political exiles have helped build this country. Each measure deserves full consideration, on its own.