XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: pelosi@mail.house.gov   
      
   The White House is considering proposals from business and   
   immigrant rights groups that are pressing President Obama to   
   provide hundreds of thousands of new green cards for high-tech   
   workers and the relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent   
   residents.   
      
   The behind-the-scenes lobbying comes as Obama prepares to   
   announce a series of executive actions that could include plans   
   to defer the deportations of millions of people living in the   
   country illegally, most of whom are Hispanic.   
      
   Though the efforts to relieve pressure on some of the nation’s   
   11 million undocumented immigrants are expected to be the   
   centerpiece of the president’s action, the administration also   
   is weighing measures that would streamline the legal immigration   
   system by reducing huge backlogs of foreigners in line for green   
   cards, denoting status as legal permanent residents.   
      
   The outside proposals delivered to the White House would more   
   than double the number of people allowed into the country on   
   employment- and family-based green cards from the annual global   
   cap of 366,000, according to estimates from some of the advocacy   
   groups.   
      
   “We believe that the theme for the package of changes you   
   undertake administratively should be focused on opening the   
   legal immigration system for more to benefit,” a coalition of   
   businesses and immigrant rights groups led by Bruce Morrison, a   
   former congressman from Connecticut, wrote in a letter to the   
   White House this week.   
      
   White House aides, who have said Obama will announce his actions   
   by summer’s end, said the administration has held 20 meetings in   
   the past two months to solicit input from stakeholders. But they   
   emphasized that no final decisions have been made.   
      
   Obama “believes it’s important to understand and consider the   
   full range of perspectives on this issue,” White House spokesman   
   Shawn Turner said.   
      
   Opponents of such proposals, including many Republicans, have   
   argued that increasing the number of immigrants allowed into the   
   country to work could harm American workers in search of jobs in   
   an economy still recovering from the effects of a global   
   recession. A comprehensive immigration bill approved by the   
   Senate last year included provisions to increase work visas for   
   both high-skilled and low-skilled workers, but the Republican-   
   controlled House refused to take up the legislation.   
      
   “The increases in foreign workers demanded by corporate   
   lobbyists would be in addition to the administration’s plan to   
   implement amnesty by executive fiat, providing work permits to 5   
   to 6 million illegal immigrants and visa overstays who will be   
   able to take any job in any industry, public or private,” said   
   Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a leading opponent of relaxing   
   immigration policy.   
      
   The administration stitched together a diverse array of interest   
   groups last year to help push for comprehensive immigration   
   reform in Congress. But those efforts collapsed this summer,   
   prompting Obama to announce in June he would go as far as he   
   could legally to reform border control laws under his own power.   
      
   Now those groups view his pending announcement on executive   
   actions as the best chance to achieve their goals before he   
   leaves office in early 2017. Their wide-ranging demands have   
   heightened the stakes for an administration already jittery   
   about the implications of enacting large-scale policy changes   
   just weeks before the midterm elections in November.   
      
   Continued.   
      
   http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-considers-   
   proposals-to-sharply-increase-legal-   
   immigration/2014/08/27/f808ffdc-2d23-11e4-bb9b-   
   997ae96fad33_story.html   
      
         
      
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