I am back.  I will write more in the morning.

I read two fact-ridden articles applicable to the issue of immigration to the U.S.  First news report I read, coming from the CIS, showed that the number of green cards issued to all individuals coming to the U.S. in 2007 dropped by over 17% from 2006, from 1, 266,000 to 1,052,000.  It was still much larger than average, historically speaking, but a definite drop, and an indication that the immigration authorities are still not getting the job done for people trying to enter the U.S.

Second article showed that high tech workers–engineers and scientists graduating from India’s top science-oriented universities are much more likely to remain in India to develop their own home-grown industries.  Moreover, they have significantly changed their attitudes concerning where the future of scientific and technological development lies—there, not in the U.S. and definitely not in Europe.  Eight years ago 60% of Indian graduates preferred to move to the U.S. or Europe, and overwhelmingly to America.  Now 81% want to stay, to only 17% in the U.S. and 2% in Europe.  Moreover, half believe that India will surpass the U.S. and most believe that Europe will be passed even earlier in scientific and technological prowess.

I can’t help but believe that, in addition to the fact that America’s leaders, especially its congressional leadership, don’t want to change their tax and regulatory and energy policy to maintain her competitiveness in the world, they don’t want to face economic realities when it comes to human capital any more than in the case of physical or monetary capital.  That is especially so with our immigration policy, in our refusal to face the fact that we are going to have to bring in people to work, educated, highly qualified, creative and motivated people.  We have to understand that even if we fix our own educational system, our economic structure, and even encourage marriage and increase our birth rate, we will not be able to have the brain trust we need.

We need to grow up, and stop living in unreality, that somehow we can just live in an old age of America depending on itself and dominating the world without opening its doors, or restricting ourselves to a mere trickle of workers and students.  It is the only reason that we don’t have several times the number of employer-based immigrants.  We have 140,000 places for green cards, over a third of which is used up by the wives and children, for a national economy that has critical shortages of doctors, nurses, physical therapists, programmers, tech workers, scientists, and a large number of other professions, even in this near-recession times.  We have 85,000 places for H-1B temporary non-immigrant professionals, and less than 100,000 more for various other visas.  Over 80% of all immigrants are family-based visa-holders, and while a compassionate American should not want families to be frustrated but have more opportunities (yeah, I’m one of those who want more of them, too, if we’re going to crack down on illegal immigrants).  But it is ludicrous, we should have 5 times as many places for employer-based green cards, and more spaces for temporary workers as well.

That’s right.  It’s not acceptable to play nativist, protectionist games for the benefit of racists, populists, and union thugs.  I’m interested in seeing my country have a wave of new workers that will help America remain the world’s leader.  Yes, insist on teaching people English, American history, impose measures that will force immigrants to assimilate–yes, I believe in my country’s unique place in the world and the need to preserve its heritage.  But people need to get into reality, America is not going to make it without, frankly, fresh blood.  No disrespect intended to people from the outside, in fact, they seem to understand very well, better than the American PC crowd.  Indians, Chinese, Mexicans, the rest of the world, they just want to come here, work, live, raise families, and succeed in the greatest nation in the world.

But they’ll just say “Screw you!” to us, if we keep making it ridiculously difficult for them to get here.  Let Australia take them in, they think, or the UK, or for that matter, just stay home.  Their nations are starting to grow.  If we don’t want to live in a nation that, one generation from now, is living from the memories of its once-glorious past, we better see some changes in our policy.

My rant is over, tomorrow I talk about what I’m doing about it.  I hope that someone is listening.

Hasta al pronto.

—The Old Alcalde—

Hello, everybody. Or to paraphrase Walter Winchell, a great radio broadcaster from the 1930s until the 1960s, who would say, “Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. America, all my brothers around the world, and all the ships at sea.” I am here to tell you that it is going to be a habit, it will, to speak of my understanding of things that are going on in the professional and business world, with a special concentration on the law, of course.

I note that the Supreme Court of California has chosen to ignore the fact that a referendum on the issue of same-sex marriage has been formally placed on the ballot in November by the California Secretary of State. They have, by the same 4-3 vote that struck down a state statute passed by 61% of the voters in 2000, held that their order to impose homosexual marriage on the unwilling residents of the state not be stayed pending the vote in November. The reasons for it are clear: 4 1/2 months of tens of thousands of homosexual couples get a marriage license and go through a ceremony; the referendum either fails or it passes, placing traditional marriage in the California state constitution this time, and setting aside the CA Supreme Court’s decision. However, under the ex post facto provision of the U.S. Constitution, and the full faith and credit clause of the same, tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of gay & lesbian couples fan out all over the country, to all 50 states, after having gained the California license, and demand that their marriage status be recognized as legal, and set aside the 1996 Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as unconstitutional. The DOMA enables the states to pass laws refusing to recongize same-sex marriages done in other states; a statute adopted by 46 states–26 in their state constitutions, 20 others through statute (California, the 47th, had theirs abrogated by the state supreme court’s May 15 decision).

These couples then use the opportunity to have the U.S. Supreme Court declare that any ban on gay marriage is a violation of the equal protection and due process clauses of the 14th amendment of the federal constitution. The sight of hundreds of thousands of gay/lesbian couples filing suit in federal courts–it will be intimidating. Which is what the California court wants, to set aside the will of the people in place of the will of elites, who decide on the future of marriage, rather than the people’s representatives.

In the meantime, I continue to prepare for my work for LPOs. What I am noticing is how rapidly the revenue generated by the LPOs and their counterparts, which will make the opportunities available for those with the vision and wisdom to pursue it. It will get interesting, once I get off the ground.

Tomorrow.

—The Old Alcalde—

The big case that is presently before the United States Supreme Court is the case that will finally decide the issue of whether the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution allows states or local governments to ban some kinds of guns from private ownership, including pistols.  It’s a huge case, over the meaning of the Second Amendment’s guarantee of the citizen’s right “to keep and bear arms.”  Most believe that a large majority of the Court will protect private gun ownership, but some are thinking there will be a surprise coming.  I’m with the gang that is going with no major changes, and upholding of the right “to keep and bear…”

It’s obscenely late, so I will have to pick up on my them later on today.  Hasta al manana.

—The Old Alcalde—

Well, it looks like the U.S. presidential election is now set to go, with the two parties having chosen their nominees (to be ratified in the Democrat convention in late August, the Republican in early September); Barack Obama has now joined the battle with John McCain. While there is much that can be praised or criticized about the two candidates, depending on one’s own perspective, it is clear to me how each candidate will feel about the business of transforming the legal services industry.   Last night, in his victory speech in St. Paul, Minnesota, Obama attacked the practice of outsourcing, which by deduction would include legal outsourcing. (It is no accident that the Baltimore law firm which is filing a bogus law suit against legal outsourcing in federal court is a plaintiff’s trial law firm/criminal defense firm, whose wing of the legal profession are the biggest contributors to the Democrat party in general and Barack Obama in particular.).  He promised to change the labor and trade laws to outlaw the practice, although he has been known to change a position mid-campaign when it becomes clear that he will lose support, and therefore face, if he continues to maintain a position.  Alas, the economy has been stalled since the summer of last year, and so “populist” positions, whether logical or not, are popular to take and advocate.

McCain, however, has been nothing if not a persistent free-trader.  So it would seem that the move to outsourcing legal support services would be supported by the Arizona Senator, especially considering that he is also in favor of tort reform and the limitation of damages, the former of which is a cause that is a prime motivator for those who hire LPO firms.  Therefore, while the majority of Asians in the high-tech and legal firms may not want McCain for his opinions on the war, health care, and taxes in general, they would
be excited about his stands on trade’s effect on the legal profession.

More to come manana.  Hasta luego.

—The Old Alcalde—

I am loath to just write things that make no difference to those who would be reading my blog, as small as it may be.  I have had a large array of subjects of which I have attempted to write.  Aside from blogs that have to do with my convictions on matters of the spirit of man and my concept of God, I have frequently wrote about matters that have given me the passion of a wet firecracker.  I have just felt like a have been a man in search of a vision.

Enter the new opportunities that come with legal process outsourcing (LPO), which is a first cousin to business and knowledge process outsourcing (BPO & KPO).  A lot of lawyers in the West will see this change as a threat to a de facto guild system, a tightly-controlled legal system that is dominated by their law firms, especially the large corporate law firms with multiple offices around the world.  The men/women of vision who see the opportunities inherent in recognizing the multiple “legal professions” in the world, and the new kinds of networks that can be created in a new world legal system, are going to become very wealthy and accomplished.

But more importantly, we have a way of creating a system of the rule of law that will bridge the gap between the need to ensure a legal framework for a globalized economic community while still maintaining democratic institutions and the accountability to each nation’s citizens which are essential to preserving human liberty.  LPO may turn out to be a lot more than just mass numbers of Third World lawyers, pouring over depositions for the benefit of rich, white American and European corporations and law firms.

More to come.  Hasta a la manana.

—The Old Alcalde—

Hello, everybody.

I have been away for awhile again.  But I’m back, and this time for good.

I’m going to try not to gripe and complain too much on this blog, and the rage I felt about the ruling by the California Supreme Court two weeks ago, determining that gay marriage is a protected right.  Yes, the 4-3 majority obviously didn’t care that they were setting aside 7,000 years of the understanding of what marriage and family means, but it’s not over.  A referendum will be held this fall, to put the traditional definition of marriage back in the state Constitution, and it will probably pass, and comfortably.  The interesting issue will be the hundreds of thousands of gay-lesbian couples, many coming from other states and countries, to go through the ceremony the state will temporarily call a “marriage”, but which God, in harmony with the teachings of Christianity and every other religion of significance on earth, would call an immoral sham relationship.  There will be all sorts of legal challenges by these couples in almost every state. And that inevitably will land the case at the U.S. Supreme Court.  So, I imagine that within a year or two, we will decide, once and for all, whether the United States of America will recognize gay marriage.

Well, in the meantime, I will be around pretty well all the time now.  And especially so, since I am now on Facebook.  And I will be talking about something in the law that gets my interest.  These days, I will have plenty of new things to talk about, especially in the area of the transformation that globalization is having on the legal profession around the world.

Anyway, I’ll be going now.  Hasta a la manana.

—The Old Alcalde—

Hello. I wanted to share with everybody an interesting U.S. government report about the growth of the number of international students attending U.S. universities, which after a slump of a couple of years after 9/11, has grown sharply to all time highs. The slump from 2003-05, was due to tougher regulations imposed by the Department of Homeland Security before having the resources, procedures, and personnel necessary to process the paperwork of international visa applicants.

But in the last three years a sudden increase in students has occurred, to the point that in the 2006-07 school year more than 640,000 international students were present in the country with F-1, J-1, and M-1 visas, along with 50,000 spouses and children of some of them. In addition, over 400,000 research scholars came to U.S. universities with their families with J-1 and similar visas in the same period. Other estimates by independent organizations state that in this 2007-08 school year the increases are 5-8%, respectively. That number translates into almost 1.2 million international university students, scholars, researchers, and their families.

And universities are wanting more, and getting them. It’s time to find ways to keep these individuals here, and 140,000 permanent employment visas and 85,000 H-1B temporary work visas are just not going to be enough. There will need to be creative ways to do something about it.

Anyway, here is the link to the report. Below is a file attachment of the same (still learning the system–podcasting and youtubing to come).

2006-07 U.S. Govt. Report on International students

I guess the best way to introduce the subject of my immigration practice is to talk a little bit about why I am doing it in the first place. Without going into my childhood, my ancestry and personal history, I can honestly say that I have always been in love with the idea of the American people being made up of every nation on earth. While there are strong feelings on the issue of illegal immigration in both the United States and Mexico (including mine), there is no ambiguity that the necessity for a generous, open, though properly monitored immigration system is really essential for the future development of an America that continues in its place as a strong, prosperous, free nation that is the leader of the world.

So, I consider it my job to help get as much of the best and brightest, all those who are decent in character, who dream of a fulfilling life and who, in the words of Ronald Reagan, “have the will and the heart to come here”, into my country—legally.

And at this point I will part company with some of those who are practitioners in the area of law which I shall choose. I am not interested in representing those who think that coming to this nation is an automatic entitlement. Sorry, but coming to America is a privilege, not a right. Those who do not respect our laws, and come here because they have been given a false history concerning America that their land was stolen from them, and that they can come in and say, with arrogance, “No one is illegal,” will earn my everlasting contempt. But those who would come because they want to be a part of this nation, who wish to obey our laws, or, if they came here illegally, did so because their desperate circumstances left them little or no choice, but have lived as law-abiding people ever since—I want to help them.

So, let’s begin. I will start at the top. The Immigration and Naturalization Act, as revised in 1990, allows as a starting point a flexible cap of 675,000 immigrants each year, with certain categories of people exempted from the limit. That law attempts to attract more skilled workers and professionals to the United States and to draw immigrants from countries that have supplied relatively few Americans in recent years. That flexibility, especially in exemptions from that limit, allowed upwards of 1.5 million people to permanently immigrate into the U.S. in 2007, and promises to allow even more. Along with that, are some 1.75 million who come here with various temporary family, business and student visas each year. And those numbers are probably going to rise, consistently.  About 1.4 million people received their citizenship last year, but 2.5 million more have existing applications of up to a year or even longer.

And yet, that number does not even begin to meet the numbers of individuals waiting in line to come into the country…legally. Another 5 million people have filed applications to permanently enter the country, and are on waiting lists ranging from a few months to, in the case of relatives from the Philippines, 23 years! And we’re talking about people who would be, by law, perfectly qualified to be legally admitted. And we’re not counting those seeking non-immigrant visas, probably a matching number.

The Legacy
The steady stream of people coming to America’s shores has had a profound effect on the American character. It takes courage and flexibility to leave your homeland and come to a new country. The American people have been noted for their willingness to take risks and try new things, for their independence and optimism. If Americans whose families have been here longer tend to take their material comfort and political freedoms for granted, immigrants are at hand to remind them how important those privileges are.

Immigrants also enrich American communities by bringing aspects of their native cultures with them. Multiple European, African, and Hispanic cultures have all fused their own unique ways of celebrating Christmas with the even more home-grown transformation made out of the birthday of the Christ in America. Hispanic Americans celebrate their traditions with street fairs and other festivities on Cinco de Mayo (May 5). Ethnic restaurants abound in nearly every significant American city.

It is in my soul that I help promote the vision of America as a home for anyone of good character who wishes to live and work here, and make this country their own, to be….Americans.  As Ronald Reagan once said:

“I . . . have thought of America as a place in the divine scheme of things that was set aside as a promised land . . . [A]nd the price of admission was very simple . . . Any place in the world and any person from these places; any person with the courage, with the desire to tear up their roots, to strive for freedom, to attempt and dare to live in a strange and foreign place, to travel halfway across the world was welcome here . . . I believe that God in shedding his grace on this country has always in this divine scheme of things kept an eye on our land and guided it as a promised land for these people.”

So, tomorrow, I will begin to review each type of visa, by which people can legally enter the country.  I will try to be brief, and I’ll outline each visa in a way that will give a prospective immigrant a practical idea of what they need to do.  We’ll start with the employment-based permanent visas, and work out from there.

Hasta al pronto.

—The Old Alcalde—

Hello.  I am really beginning to get excited over the prospects about the new legal consulting firm I have begun.  But there are many challenges, to be sure.  Since I will be working mostly with immigrants from India, there will be difficulties getting new applicants for employer-based green cards who are coming for technology-based jobs.  And there have still not been an increase in the numbers available for H-1B temporary (3-6 year) work visas, set at 65,000 regular visas and 20,000 visas for Masters/PhD graduates from U.S. universities.  The earliest date for these applicants and their sponsors to be able to apply for the H-1B is April 1st, exactly 6 months before the beginning of the 2009 U.S. government fiscal year.  Last year over 150,000 applicants were received the first day, and all 85,000 visas were granted (after a drawing by lot) by the end of the next day.

There are exceptions to the two caps on H-1Bs, most notably the exception for those working for non-profit research centers, universities, and research centers that are connected to universities.  Those exceptions amount to about another 60,000-70,000 visas.  Still, the shortages in the need of more employment visas, temporary and permanent alike, is large and growing.

There are other means to do the job of getting more immigrants into the U.S., particularly from India, and that we’ll talk about more in coming days.

Hasta al pronto.

—The Old Alcalde—