H-1B Nurse Scheme in Illinois
H-1B Nurse Scheme in Illinois
Date: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 11:28 PM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1518 -- 07/11/2006 >>>>>
The Chicago Tribune ran a story that was so strange I had to read it about
three times to take it all in. The story begins when Cook County
Commissioner Roberto Maldonado said he wants to get H-1B visas for
Spanish-speaking, foreign-born nurses, pharmacists and radiologists.
----- That's not the weird part! -----
Maldonado has a scheme to get the H-1B visas for illegal aliens that are
attending colleges in Illinois! It doesn't seem to bother Maldonado that
it's illegal to sponsor H-1B visas for illegal aliens.
Illinois seems to have plenty of illegal aliens attending their colleges
and universities, as the second article explains:
Consider the advantage to the illegal immigrant residing in,
say, Illinois, who is also a preferred minority: If he applies
to an Illinois state school with a typical affirmative-action
program, he's dozens of times more likely to be admitted over
a more qualified Asian or white U.S. citizen and will pay tens
of thousands less for tuition than a U.S. citizen from outside
the state.
At first glance the Chicago Tribune article below would have you believe
that Puerto Rican born Maldonado wants to bring in Mexican and South
American nurses but his statements made in 2003 reveal his true intentions:
"Recruiting nurses from Puerto Rico could really be a great
benefit in addressing the 130 vacancies we have now in the
John H. Stroger Hospital alone," said Commissioner Roberto
Maldonado, chairman of the Cook County Board subcommittee
that oversees Stroger and Cermak Hospitals.
Articles Used
Article 1:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0607110123jul11,1,3049077.story?coll=chi-newslocalchicago-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
Bilingual health workers sought
Visa plan would be open even to those illegally in U.S.
Article 2:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTUyNzg5YWFiZDU5NjU4ZjY0ZTUyMDMwZWM4NTQ5YzY=
Illegal Advantage
Lawbreakers vault to the front of the college-admissions line
Article 3:
http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues/2003/vol7n10/CookCountyNurses-en.shtml
Cook County Plans For Nurse Drought: Puerto Rico Seen As Possible Savior
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0607110123jul11,1,3049077.story?coll=chi-newslocalchicago-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
Bilingual health workers sought
Visa plan would be open even to those illegally in U.S.
By Oscar Avila, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter Stephen
Franklin contributed to this report
July 11, 2006
Cook County should sponsor foreign-born nurses, pharmacists and
radiologists for legal work visas to help fill a shortage of
Spanish-speaking health professionals, a county commissioner said Monday.
Commissioner Roberto Maldonado's proposal is unconventional enough, but he
wants to take it even further: He wants the county to hire Illinois college
graduates in the health field even if they don't have legal immigration
status.
The idea is clearly illegal, immigration experts agree, but Maldonado said
he will introduce the plan Wednesday to highlight the shortage of bilingual
health providers at county facilities.
"If somebody wants to challenge that in court, they can. I want the county
to break ground," he said. "Here we have a great need and a great pool of
potential health professionals. Why not match the two?"
Experts estimated that less than 5 percent of the state's nurses are
bilingual; county officials estimate that about one-third of their patients
speak primarily Spanish.
Under the modest pilot program, the county would work with Latin American
consulates in Chicago to fill about 20 professional positions.
Both components of the proposal are likely to generate criticism--from
opponents of illegal immigration and from labor unions that contend the
legal work visas would displace U.S.-born workers.
The H-1B visa program has become popular among employers, who quickly
snapped up the 65,000 visas available for fiscal 2007. Industry groups have
pushed to expand the visas, which last for up to six years and are geared
to specialized fields, such as engineering and law.
The proposal would focus on students from Latin America at Chicago-area
colleges who need work visas to remain in the U.S. The program also would
benefit legal immigrants in Chicago with professional training.
Cook County would sign a pact to provide the consulates of at least 10
Latin American nations, including Mexico, Ecuador and Chile, an ongoing
list of vacancies at county hospitals and clinics. County officials and the
consulates would work together to select applicants.
Jill Furillo, an official with the union that represents nurses at
county-operated health facilities, said her group does not oppose employing
foreign-born nurses to fill vacancies. But "our position is that we need to
do everything we can to solve the nursing shortage by training and
educating people from our community here," said Furillo, an official with
the National Nurses Organizing Committee.
Aida Giachello, director of the Midwest Latino Health Research, Training
and Policy Center agrees that health authorities must do a better job of
fostering a new generation of bilingual U.S.-born workers. But with the
shortage so severe, health officials cannot close the door to foreign
talent, she said.
Some experts question whether the H-1B visas would fill the nursing
shortage because immigration authorities typically don't include nursing as
a "specialized field" that qualifies for the program.
Maldonado's more radical idea is to hire undocumented immigrants with
health training. Maldonado said he would try to link them with legal visas
but would hire them anyway if they graduated from public state
universities. Because they are living here illegally, those graduates now
have no job prospects after attending college under an Illinois law that
grants in-state tuition to undocumented high school graduates.
Paul Zulkie, a Chicago immigration attorney, said the county has no
authority to override federal immigration law that prohibits hiring illegal
immigrants. Federal authorities could fine the county or even bring
criminal charges if it knowingly hired illegal immigrants.
"The law is very clear. There is no gray area," said Zulkie, past president
of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Maldonado acknowledged that the proposal would generate heated debate. He
plans to join consular representatives at a downtown news conference
Tuesday to promote the idea.
Cesar Romero, spokesman for the Mexican Consulate, said hundreds of
immigrants swamped an event several years ago to publicize jobs in health
care. Most were ineligible to fill the jobs because they were living here
illegally, he said.
Mexican officials offered qualified support for Maldonado's plan to hire
illegal immigrants.
"We support any kind of measure that can benefit the immigrant community,"
Romero said.
About H-1B visas
What are they? A temporary visa for workers in specialized fields such as
medicine, education, law and the arts. Eligible jobs require at least a
bachelor's degree or equivalent. Workers can keep H-1B status for a maximum
of 6 years.
Limits: The current law allowed a maximum of 65,000 visas for fiscal 2007.
Applying: Visa recipients must be sponsored by a U.S. employer. The
employer must attest to meeting certain labor conditions, such as
prevailing wages.
Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTUyNzg5YWFiZDU5NjU4ZjY0ZTUyMDMwZWM4NTQ5YzY=
May 10, 2006, 6:20 a.m.
Illegal Advantage
Lawbreakers vault to the front of the college-admissions line
By Peter Kirsanow
Should it be cheaper for illegal immigrants to attend U.S. colleges than
for U.S. citizens? Yes, according to lawmakers in California, Illinois,
Kansas, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Washington.
Illegal immigrants residing in these states are eligible for in-state
tuition rates at state colleges and universities. These rates afford a
significant cost savings compared to the tuition rates charged to
out-of-state students. On average, an out-of-state student pays three times
as much in tuition costs as an in-state student to attend the same school.
In some states this means an out-of-state student pays as much as $40,000
more over four years.
The primary rationale behind in-state tuition rates is that students whose
parents have been paying taxes into the state treasury for the past 18
years -- thereby providing revenue for that state's colleges -- should
receive a break over out-of-state students. But the rationale has scant
applicability to students who are illegal immigrants. Most states require
illegal immigrants to reside in the state for only 2-3 years before
becoming eligible for in-state tuition rates.
In-state tuition for illegals is an increasingly popular concept among
lawmakers. At least 20 additional states are considering legislation that
would grant in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants. Some U.S.
senators are even considering extending in-state tuition for illegals to
all fifty states. They're doing so in clear defiance of congressional
intent to make such preferential treatment unlawful. Title 8 Section 1623
of the U.S. Code (part of the Illegal Immigration Reform Act of 1996)
provides in pertinent part:
Limitations on eligibility for preferential treatment of aliens not
lawfully present on the basis of residence for higher education benefits
a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an alien who is not lawfully
present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of
residence within a State (or political subdivision) for any postsecondary
education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is
eligible for such benefit without regard to whether the citizen or national
is such a resident.
This act isn't much of a deterrent. It's estimated that the majority of the
125,000 illegal immigrants attending the nation's colleges and universities
are eligible for in-state tuition rates.
In-state tuition breaks may not be the only benefit granted to some illegal
immigrants seeking to attend U.S. colleges and universities. Thomas Sowell,
Roger Clegg, and Ed Blum have noted recently that illegal immigrants who
are members of preferred minority groups are entitled to other benefits
unavailable to the vast majority of American citizens.
At some schools, preferred-minority applicants are up to 100 times more
likely to be admitted than similarly situated non-preferred (i.e., Asian or
white) comparatives. Affirmative-action programs at some schools are
structured in a way that, beyond a minimum level of qualification,
preferred-minority applicants are virtually guaranteed admission. Consider
the advantage to the illegal immigrant residing in, say, Illinois, who is
also a preferred minority: If he applies to an Illinois state school with a
typical affirmative-action program, he's dozens of times more likely to be
admitted over a more qualified Asian or white U.S. citizen and will pay
tens of thousands less for tuition than a U.S. citizen from outside the
state. As the comedian Yakov Smirnoff -- a legal immigrant -- might say,
"What a country!"
The preferences don't end at the undergrad level. Illegal immigrants from
preferred-minority groups are also preferred in law-school admissions. In
fact, the American Bar Association recently sought to compel law schools to
grant preferences to certain minorities; schools that failed to do so could
lose their ABA accreditation. No law school is excused -- even if it's
located in a state that has outlawed preferences (e.g., post-Prop. 209
California). Interpretation 211-1 of ABA Standard 211 makes the following
breathtaking admonition: "The requirements of a constitutional provision or
statute that purports to prohibit consideration of gender, race, ethnicity,
or national origin in admissions or employment decisions is not a
justification for a school's non-compliance with Standard 211 (mandating
diversity)". In other words, "diversity" trumps the law, so schools better
engage in preferences, or else.
In the next several months high-school seniors will begin the
college-application process in earnest. Many will soon discover that having
a 4.0 G.P.A., 1500 SATs, and a dazzling extracurricular list means less
than having the proper ethnicity. And being a U.S. citizen means nothing at
all.
Peter Kirsanow is a member of the National Labor Relations Board. He is
also a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. These comments do not
necessarily reflect the positions of either organization.
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http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues/2003/vol7n10/CookCountyNurses-en.shtml
Cook County Plans For Nurse Drought: Puerto Rico Seen As Possible Savior
By James Janega, Tribune staff reporter.
Feb. 2, 2003
Copyright ) 2003 Chicago Tribune. All rights reserved.
Facing a shortage of registered nurses, Cook County commissioners are
considering whether to recruit nurses from a university in Puerto Rico, one
of the few places in the United States or its territories that enjoys a
surplus of the medical professionals.
"Recruiting nurses from Puerto Rico could really be a great benefit in
addressing the 130 vacancies we have now in the John H. Stroger Hospital
alone," said Commissioner Roberto Maldonado, chairman of the Cook County
Board subcommittee that oversees Stroger and Cermak Hospitals.
Maldonado said Illinois law allows nurses to be licensed here if they have
been certified in other U.S. states or territories, including Puerto Rico.
"They have the same curriculum to train nurses as institutions of higher
education in the United States, and they take the same tests as in the
United States," he said.
Rendy Jones, director of communications for the Cook County Bureau of
Health Services, said the idea is just one initiative under way to recruit
nurses.
The county also has recruited at local high schools, developed internship
programs with nearby colleges, and set up booths at Cook County churches,
health fairs and civic functions, she said.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, hospitals
nationwide face a shortage of 110,000 registered nurses this year, and the
U.S. Department of Labor warns that an additional 450,000 registered nurses
will be needed by 2008.
A Health Resources and Services Administration survey predicts a 4 percent
shortage of nurses in Illinois by 2010 and a 20 percent shortage by 2020.
"Illinois is not going to see a serious shortage for probably another five
years," said Illinois Nurses Association spokeswoman Rebecca Knoepfle.
"Currently, the numbers wouldn't show a shortage, but we're on the verge."
Among those who testified at a Cook County subcommittee hearing Friday was
the University of Puerto Rico's director of nursing, Mildred
Flores-Rodriguez. Maldonado said the school's nurses could be ideal for
Cook County, which places a premium on bilingual, Spanish-speaking nurses.
An Illinois Department of Professional Regulation survey in 2000 found that
18 percent of the state's 140,000 registered nurses were not working in the
nursing field, generally because of workplace dissatisfaction.
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