Latest Updates on FY 2012 H-1B Visa Availability – Oct. 21

On October 21, 2011, USCIS posted an update regarding the amount of applications received for standard cap-subject and master’s exemption H-1B visas for Fiscal Year 2012. According to USCIS, a total of 20,000 H-1B Master’s Exemption visas have been filed, and 46,200 standard cap visas have been filed. Each fiscal year, a total of 20,000 master’s exempt H-1B visas are available; up to 65,000 standard cap visas are available.

USCIS began accepting petitions for H-1B visas for Fiscal Year 2012 (starting on October 1, 2011) on April 1, 2011. Petitions may be filed no more than six months in advance of the requested start date. Please note that up to 6,800 visas from the 65,000 cap-subject visas are set aside each fiscal year for the H-1B1 program.

Mayors Work to Keep Violent Illegal Aliens in the United States

Just when you thought pro-illegal alien politicians had gone about as far as it's possible to go in helping illegals, that's when they come up with new ways to sell out their country.

For example, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, former right hand man of Pres. Barack Obama, has released more than 40 suspected illegal aliens arrested on felony charges and refused to hold them for questioning by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. He is doing this in spite of official requests by ICE to hold such prisoners for 48 hours so ICE can take them into custody and determine which are illegal.

N.Y. Mayor Mike Bloomberg is trying to go even further. He's promoting a bill that would that would duplicate Emmanuel's policy and actually enact it into law, thereby binding his successors.

Now consider that in September the federal government reported that over half of all those sentenced to federal prisons in the first nine months of this fiscal year for committing felonies were Hispanic. And this month the Latin American news service, EFE, reported that Mexican President Calderon is angry at "U.S. officials for deporting Mexican criminals" back to Mexico to "save on judicial costs."

Read More: Mayors Work to Keep Violent Illegal Aliens in the United States

Is Mexico's Economy Really Driving Down Illegal Immigration to the US?

According to a 2010 Department of Homeland Security report, the number of undocumented immigrants living in the US declined from 11.6 million in 2008 to 10.6 million in 2009, the largest decrease in 30 years. One of the most common explanations for this phenomenon is that Mexico has witnessed the emergence of a middle class, lessening the economic incentive to cross the border. While it is true that a segment of the population has seen a growth in disposable income over the past five years, a July study by consulting firm De la Riva Group revealed that only 32 percent of the country is “middle class,” defined as making the equivalent of between 13,500 pesos ($1,000) and 98,499 pesos ($7,360) per month.

In contrast, the latest poverty statistics from Mexico’s government poverty monitor CONEVAL indicate that the number of people living below the poverty line in Mexico (2,114 pesos or $158 per month in urban areas, 1,329 pesos or $99 per month in the countryside) increased by 3.2 million between 2008 and 2010, and now stands at 52 million. This figure amounts to more than 46 percent of the country's 112 million inhabitants. This directly contradicts optimistic accounts in the US media which imply that increasing standards of living in Mexico are causing immigration to fall, such as recent articles in the Sacramento Bee and New York Times. While CONEVAL notes that some states (notably Puebla, Coahuila, and Morelos) have made inroads against poverty, it cannot by any means be said that Mexico is mostly middle class.

Read More: Is Mexico's economy really driving down illegal immigration to the US?

Record Number of People Deported from U.S. in Fiscal Year 2011 19 Oct 2011

Fiscal Year 2011 saw U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) break a new record for the amount of people deported from the United States. From July 2010 to June 2011, a total of 400,000 people were deported from the U.S., the largest number ever recorded by ICE. According to ICE, these numbers “underscore the administration's focus on removing individuals ... that fall into priority areas.” These priority areas include people who break laws, are threats to national security or are repeat violators.

In Fiscal Year 2011, a total of 396,906 people were removed from the U.S. Out of those 216,698 were convicted of felonies or misdemeanors. A breakdown of categories is shared below:

1,119 - homicide
5,848 - sexual offenses
44,653 - drug-related crimes
35,927 - driving under the influence

2,900 Arrested in US Illegal Immigration Sweep

US authorities arrested 2,900 illegal immigrants with criminal records during a seven-day nationwide sweep, the biggest of its kind, immigration officials said Wednesday.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said the operation, which it dubbed "Cross Check", "led to the arrest of more than 2,900 convicted criminal aliens."

The operation was carried out over a one-week period in all 50 US states and overseas territories, as part of the US administration's strategy to focus on people with criminal records who are in the country illegally.

"The results of this targeted enforcement operation underscore ICE's ongoing commitment and focus on the arrest and removal of convicted criminal aliens and those who game our nation's immigration system," ICE director John Morton said.

Of those detained, 1,282 had multiple convictions to their name, and more than 1,600 had served sentences for crimes like armed robbery, attempted murder, kidnapping or drug trafficking, the agency said.

Read More: 2,900 arrested in US illegal immigration sweep