S.386 Blocked by Senator Durbin (and Again)

Latest update: On October 17, 2019, Senator Durbin blocked another attempt to pass S.386 via Unanimous Consent (UC).

The following contents first published on September 26, 2019.

Hours ago, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) blocked S.386 and the unanimous consent vote has once again been delayed. After Senator David Perdue (R-GA) dropped his objection after reaching agreement with the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT). Sen. Durbin blocked this “green-card giveaway bill to Indian graduates” because “it doesn’t give away ample green cards to international graduates from many international locations”.

We attribute this win to the collective actions of the communities including fellow citizens from various ethic background: Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Iranian, etc. We celebrate the good news with everyone who worked hard in contacting the offices of multiple Senators. This is a superb example of political engagement, with combined efforts from grass-root movement and organizational actions. Let’s continue to push for a public hearing and a true reform of the employment-based green card system.

Please click here to read the open letter opposing this bill.

We suggest the community keep reaching out to the Senators via phone and email or in person. In addition, a letter co-signed by multiple local organizations, preferably from diverse ethic background, may be helpful. The letter of opposition show above can be an example; the following can be another for your reference.

September 24, 2019

Honorable Sen. David Perdue
3280 Peachtree Rd, Suite 2640
Atlanta, GA 30305

RE: S.386

Dear Senator Perdue:

On Behalf of Chinese American community in Atlanta area, we urge you to oppose Senate legislative Bill S.386.

Legislative Bill “Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019” is misnamed and cannot be considered “fair” under any circumstances. By lifting the 7% country caps and allocating almost 100% of all available employment green cards to nationals from one country alone – India; S.386 will shut out nearly all nationals from 190+ other countries for many years to come. If passed, S.386 will absolutely reduce the required skill, industry and ethnic diversity that American needs to continue healthy growth into the future.

As you know, the State of Georgia relies on skilled immigration workers in certain fields, such as rural area hospitals (nurses and physicians) and biomedical industry. Losing the ability to recruit these workers will have significant negative impact on our state.

The root cause of the employment-based green card backlog stems from many years of H1B visa abuse where IT outsourcing companies flooded the H1-B lottery program with applicants on behalf of Indian nationals and dominated visa distribution. Passing legislation S.386 would simply reward this H1B visa abuse. We ask that you resist the temptation to implement convenient, but entirely ineffective, legislation “solutions” that solve nothing, regarding the very real problem of the employment-based green card visa backlog.

The best solution to this issue it not to scrap the per country cap, but to expand the number of green cards available and to enact a merit-based system for awarding employment green cards that rewards the most qualified, talented, and likely to succeed.

While we do understand that there is a problem to be solved with the backlogged green card applicants, clearly S.386 is not designed with America’s best interest in mind. We respectfully request that you oppose this bill moving forward by unanimous consent and, at the very least, ensure that the bill proceeds through regular order so that it is properly debated, and its implications fully assessed.

Sincerely,

（List of organization names omitted here）