Over the past few weeks, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) keeps receiving flower deliveries at its offices. Each delivery bears a note reading, “Dear Honorable Jeh Johnson, DHS Visa Bulletin reversal has caused irreparable harm to our families. We ask you to not inflict injustice on us (legal immigrants) for no fault of ours. Please fix October Visa Bulletin. We wish you the very best.”
Many immigrants are sending the flowers to protest the October Visa Bulletin posted to the Department of State’s (DOS) website on Sept. 25. The bulletin contradicts an earlier Sept. 9 post stating that immigrants who had been waiting to file for the last step of the green card process — which allows for changing jobs and traveling outside the country — would be able to do so beginning in October.
For the thousands of immigrants waiting to get to this step of the process, the initial news was welcomed. Many of these immigrants waiting hold H-1B visas, the most common for highly skilled immigrant workers.
Just 16 days after the initial visa bulletin was posted, the DOS released a new bulletin stating that the prior bulletin contained an error, and the thousands of immigrants waiting were no longer eligible to file. To the many immigrants who have invested thousands of dollars in preparing their applications, the reversal was a giant blow. Now, they fall back into the green card backlog, which can equate to more waiting.
For the immigrants that are currently living here with H-1B visas, this was especially troublesome. These workers are typically highly skilled and work in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM). The very concept of hiring these workers can cause a rift among Americans, but research has shown that these workers actually add more opportunities for native-born Americans. With that in mind, giving H-1B visa holders the opportunity to file for the last step of the green card process could open more doors for these workers, and by extension many Americans.
According to CNN.com, a class-action lawsuit has been filed against the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and Secretary of State John Kerry. While the court denied the plaintiff’s request for a temporary restraining order, the lawsuit is proceeding.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has called for Secretary Kerry, Secretary Johnson and Director of the Domestic Policy Council at the White House Cecilia Muñoz to reconsider their decision and restore the original Sept. 9 bulletin, citing the hardships these affected immigrants have faced and stressing that the revised process will create additional struggles.
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