|
Your weekly summary from the Council
LATEST ANALYSIS
FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
-
The Biden administration announced this week that it will make changes to part of the immigration system to remove barriers to legal immigration and promote educational exchange by adding 22 new fields of study in the STEM Optional Practical Training program through the Student and Exchange Visitor Program.
Until now, many international students and workers were forced to leave the United States and return home to work for our global competitors due to visa restrictions. The new efforts will allow foreign STEM talent—international students graduating from U.S. universities in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—to continue to make meaningful contributions to America’s scholarly, research and development, and innovation communities.
This fact sheet from the American Immigration Council provides an overview of the Exchange Visitor Program and the categories through which EVP participants could teach, study, research, or receive training.
Read more: The Exchange Visitor Program and J-1 Visas
ACROSS THE NATION
-
New research our of Southwest Iowa shows that immigrants contributed $5.1 billion to the GDP of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area in 2019.
The data highlights how immigrants fill crucial workforce gaps. Although foreign-born residents made up 8% of the Omaha-Council Bluffs’ overall population in 2019, they represented nearly 11% of its working age population.
Additionally, immigrants had an outsized impact on key industries vital to the Iowan economy. Immigrants accounted for 22.1% of manufacturing workers, 15.9%t of construction workers, and 12.2% of hospitality workers.
The report was released by New American Economy—now a part of the American Immigration Council.
Read more: New Americans in Southwest Iowa and Omaha-Council Bluffs
MAKE A CONTRIBUTION
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Our nation needs an updated immigration system that meets the needs of our communities and the economy and respects the dignity of each person in this country. The Biden administration must redouble its efforts in the coming year to ensure that the federal government treats immigrants and refugees fairly and with compassion, mobilize the federal bureaucracy to make sure that changes to our immigration system are realized, recognize the harms done to thousands of families separated at the border, and make the system more accessible to aspiring Americans.
“We know that only so much can be achieved in a year and that immigration will not quickly cease to be a polarizing issue. But the Biden administration must commit to ensuring the well-being of all Americans—no matter where they were born—and building inclusive communities across the United States. We must work together to rewrite immigration policies for the 21st century, restore faith on America’s promise to provide safe haven for those seeking protection, and ensure that immigrants and the communities they settle in succeed.”
– Jeremy Robbins, executive director of the American Immigration Council
FURTHER READING
|
