自11月以来,Sen Scott和Mike Lee就S386达成了agreement的传言就一直有流传,而Mike Lee 昨天(12月2日)下午东部时间六点钟就这个法案再次进行UC,令人震惊的是,这个法案没有任何参议员当场反对,按照unanimous consent 流程,法案直接通过了参议院!
(cspan录像:https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4927186/user-clip-122-hr1044s386-passed)
这次S.386与以往不同的是,直接增加了针对华人的歧视条款。一直以来我们看到有标题叫S.386是“排华法案”,很遗憾的是,在今天,它是真正地、直接地成为了切切实实的排华法案。法案全文如下,(section 9是排华条款):
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1044/text
请大家注意,这是一个法律,而不是一个行政法规,移民法律本来就很难改革,这条成为法律以后,一切针对中国人、通过遏制中国人拿绿卡打压中国移民、阻断中国移民职场上升、纵容对中国人有敌视的签证方面行政手段,都有了法律上的正当理由!今年一系列类似于微信禁令、中国学生禁令、H1B工资规则、H1B出入境EO等等,我们之所以还能屡屡“松一口气”,还能心怀希望,不就是因为法庭还能判决这些措施是非法的?而今,堂而皇之针对一个国家的人的歧视性条款,不再是临时的EO,不再是一个行政性的条款,而是一条法律,如果这还不是排华法案,什么是排华法案?
大家阅读上面的条款,可以发现,它的措辞是十分模糊的:1. adjustment of status. Status不光是绿卡,理论上,可以是所有的visa status,因此这不光是中国人拿绿卡受限,而且还包括了F/H/O/B类签证的身份转换。2.“As determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security”, DHS在这上面拥有决定权,有很大的解释权。简单的说。你的签证官,不想给你签证,就可以直接套用这个条款。3. Affiliation with military 以及政党,严格的说,初中高中的军训也算在内。Again,就看你的签证官或者绿卡面试官愿不愿意拿这个把你拒了。
作为坚持反386一年的,既受排期之苦,也被各种移民苛政焦头烂额的普通志愿者,在此,我想掏心掏肺地,在反386的最后,也是最紧要的关头,真诚地说一句:我知道有的人觉得拿掉country cap他自己的排期能加快,我知道许多人有政见上的不同,但不管是什么,面对如此直接歧视华人的法律,我们不应该沉默。哪怕你支持S.386,或者你甚至心里并不欢迎中国的新移民来到美国,但是对于这样一条明晃晃的歧视条款写进法律,每个有基本良知的人,都不应该沉默。许多悲惨的故事已经在历史上发生过,我们不应让那些历史成为正在发生的未来。哪怕你支持S.386,也请发声,反对这一歧视条款。更不要说因为s.386将被造成N年内拿不到绿卡的受害者。
黎明前的黑暗是最黑暗的,但我们并不能因此在最后放弃。这个bill House之前投票通过的版本和Senate现在通过的版本差异很大,Senate这个版本加了好几个amendments,所以是会打回House Judiciary Committee 重新reconcile的。对我们来说,坏消息是这届立法周期马上就要结束了(还有两个礼拜),所以Mike Lee和House里这个法案的支持会马上推进法案在House的进程的,留给我们的时间不多了!!!
接下来的几天,是真正的最后一博。希望这篇文每个读者都能:每天做以下这两件事, 并且每天告诉至少身边的3个人这个消息并解释危害,
-
一个是给House Judiciary Committee和Nancy Pelosi (phone 2022254965)打电话和写信。尤其是Judiciary Committee 下面这个 Immigration and Citizenship Subcommittee的议员。(尤其是考虑到事情的紧急性,工作日打电话优先!可以周末写信)
联系方式可以参考这个google form
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DFRjDfcYMh-X9Wm2Ji7hRVIXeVXWUk0I/view?usp=sharing
Nancy Pelosi (phone 2022254965)
以下两个议员house投票的时候就投了No。我们一定要重点打
CA-46, J. Luis Correa(D), DC: 2022252965, Other office: 7145596190
FL-17, Steube (R) DC:Phone: 2022255792; Lake Placid,Phone: 941 4993214
CO-2, Joe Neguse(D),DC:2022252161
CO-4, Ken Buck(R), DC: 2022254676; Castle Rock, Phone: 7206399165;
Greeley,Phone: 970 7022136
AZ-8, Debbie Lesko (R) DC: 2022254576; Other office: 6237767911
CA-4, Tom McClintock(R), DC: Phone: 2022252511; Other office:9167865560
FL-26, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell(D):Phone:2022252778, Other office: 305)2220160
ND-0, Kelly Armstrong (R):Phone: 202 2252611; Bismarck Office Phone: 7013546700; Fargo: 7013536665
PA-5, Mary Scanlon (D), Phone: 202 2252011, other office:610 6261913
TX-16, Veronica Escobar(D), Phone: 2022254831, other office:9155411400
WA-7, Pramila Jayapal(D), Phone: 2022253106;Other office: 2066740040
大概的模版如下:
“We strongly oppose Bill H.R.1044/S.386 Fairness for Skilled Immigrant Act, since it will kill the diversity of our employment- based immigration system. The Senate version was added a few amendments which weren’t included in the House version, including a discriminative “Chinese exclusion section” , that legitimize discrimination against Chinese by a legislation form. If it were passed into law, it will almost cut the entire future Chinese immigrants inflow and endanger current Chinese immigrant legal status in US. It is a discriminative provision that will raise hatred and discrimination against American Asians. It will also eliminate the chances of building a healthier immigration system, it will allocate over 90% of the Employment Based green card to people from one country thus block the path way to “American dream” of immigrants from over 190 countries. Please express you opposition to this bill when it is sent back to the Judiciary Committee to reconcile the differences.”
除了表达以上的反对意见外,还请提到关于具体条款的反对:
(1)When claiming to solve backlog issue for people from the two largest countries, this bill however designed a mechanism to exclusively assign visa quotas to one country only. Section 2, (e)(2)(B) unreserved visa allocation cap between the two largest states says there is a 85% unreserved visa cap inside the 70% visa quotas that will follow a First-In-First-Out rule, essentially it is taking away China’s visa quotas to materialize a de-facto Chinese Exclusion Act in the next ten years. Even without the Chinese exclusion provision, this section can eliminate Chinese nationals from getting green cards in the next 10 years. We are strongly against it and we urge to treat people from the big two countries equally, during a reasonable time period from now on instead of a non discrimination on the surface but a real discrimination in the reality.
(2) (共和党尤其适用)The new version of the bill removed 50–50 rule come up by Sen. Durbin to protect American workers and International students from the unfair competition with outsourcing companies. Due to the business models of outsourcing company, they have had unfair advantage in getting H-1B visas, especially compared with international students graduated from US colleges. Durbin’s 50–50 rule helped to reduce the abuse of H-1B visa by outsourcing companies but the new amendment removed it. We urge this amendment to be added, and there should be no waiting period for 50–50 rule to be valid to avoid outsourcing companies’ tricks.
2. 第二个是给你的美国就读的大学打电话和写信。优先级是1)校长;2)International Student Office负责人;3) Government Relationship 的负责人;4) Chief of Staff。这些信息一般学校校长办公室页面都有,没有的话google 学校名字加职位就都有了。
因为这个事情非常紧急,而学校办事效率都很慢,所以大家最好先发邮件(标题注明Urgent)然后直接打电话过去follow up。
大概模版如下:
Please help international students to block a ricist immigration bill (HR 1044/S.386)
I am (NAME), who holds a [or studying] (SPECIFIC DEGREE FROM NAMED UNIVERSITY). I do (SPECIFIC RESEARCH/TECH WORK) with colleagues who are from all over the world. I am writing to you about a modern Chinese Exclusion Act, which is also a looming crisis for America’s competitive advantage in technology with grave consequences for both higher education institutions like (NAME THE SCHOOL), and for our economy.
On December 2nd, 2012, the immigration bill S.386/HR.1044 is passed, together with a discriminative provision, explicitly against Chinese, cloaked in national security. It gives power to Department of Home Security, to ban any adjustment of (visa) status as long as DHS thinks those Chinese nationals have , quote, “affiliated with military forces or Chinese Community Party”. That poses the threat of deportation, entry ban, or even persecution to all Chinese nationals in the US.
There are about one million people in the high-skilled green card waiting line, and it is growing with employment-based applicants exceeding green card numbers every year. Even worse, a proposed piece of legislation, S.386, wants to exacerbate the problem through zero-sum legislation. It attempts to repeal the per-country cap of green cards for skilled new Americans as if that alone will solve the backlog. The Congressional Research Service proved earlier this year that the number of people waiting for green cards will double in a decade, while under S. 386, the waiting time for immigrants from all over the world will become 17 years, practically destroying the employment-based immigration system in the country.
A 17-year wait time will deter the brightest of the foreign students and scholars from coming to the US and much of the research labs in our university will experience a drop in recruitment and applicant quality. This is threatening the very function of the university and will set us back in competition.
We ask to meet with you following up on this letter, to discuss specific ways (NAME THE SCHOOL) can help.
/Full Name/ (note: writing your full name within forward slashes acts as an easy electronic signature: e.g./John T. Smith/)
Full Name
另外请加入我们的群,我们有很多要做的事情急缺人手:
https://t.me/joinchat/PxkK_1OzIn4sGdGlwK0Y3A
未来几天如果我们收到消息也会及时给大家分享。
不到最后我们都别放弃。
多重因素华人恐断代
一旦通过,接下来十数年,华人移民面临断代风险,对社区生态有不可低估的恶性影响。
· 什么是S.386?
S386也叫“绿卡国别限制法案”,是由美国参议院议员Mike Lee在2019年2月7日提出的一项法案,该法案的众议院版本叫HR 1044。美国颁发给职业移民的绿卡每年有固定的份额限制,如众多的在公司工作的移民主要是走H-1B再到公司帮忙申请EB2绿卡,这一绿卡类别每年颁发数目为40,040张。目前绿卡的发放是有国别限制,即保证每个国家申请人拿到的份额不少于7%,这样的后果是如果有某国家绿卡申请人超过了配额限制,就会出现“绿卡排队”现象。S.386的主要内容即为在不增加绿卡总数的情况下,取消国别限制,实行先来后到。
· S.386的危害是什么?
由于绿卡排队大国印度职业绿卡的移民数目,尤其是在公司工作的移民申请量压倒性的超过包括中国在内的世界上所有其他国家(每年印度绿卡申请数目大约为第二名中国人的六倍左右,更不要说其他国家),印度申请人的绿卡数目出现了严重积压。截至2020年初,仅EB2卡别一项,印度绿卡申请积压数就达到了568,414份,这五十多万份申请是从2009年开始积压的。考虑到配偶因素,印度EB2绿卡积压保守估计有一百万张左右,而EB2绿卡每年发放40,040张,因此如果贸然直接取消绿卡国别限制,实行先来后到的话,未来十年所有绿卡基本全部要分给印度绿卡申请人,华人新绿卡移民直接断代。
· 谁在推动S.386?
S.386明显是只利于某些利益团体的法案。在S.386背后是百万级美金的资金支持,主要来自印度大型外包公司、高科技公司等,而在前方活动的则是印度移民团体, 该团体已经孜孜不倦试图在众议院推动该法案长达十年,而在2019年是他们最接近成功的一次。
· 我是已经拿到绿卡/公民的华人,这个法案对我有影响吗?
这个法案的影响在于华人新移民未来十年流入几乎砍断,而十年后,绿卡排期由于申请人本来就大大多于发放数量,根据国会研究报告估算,所有国家等待时间可达到37年。因此不仅未来十年断代,之后的人由于灰暗的绿卡前景,流入也将砍断。在华人面临各种不公法案时,足够的华人数目是开展社区活动的关键,如果没有新移民流入,华人社区本来数目人就少,以后再有不公法案能够站在一起的人将越来越少。
另一个因素是由于S.386背后推手是外包公司,外包公司通过h1b申请造假、组团包装简历、大量从印度国内搬运劳工等方式,获得了大量的合同工作岗位。如纵容外包公司商业模式,以后美国工作岗位将不断流失。
· 我听说S. 386已经在参议院被毙掉了,是真的吗?
首先要解释一下,Mike Lee试图在参议院通过S.386的手段主要为试图强行Unanimous Consent, 意为Mike Lee在国会上提出法案,只要当场没有其他参议员反对,就直接通过。2021年1月前,Mike Lee只要想,都可以在国会上再次提出此法案。
即使是2020年过去了,之前提到印度移民团体已经在众议院推动法案长达十年,每年引入众议院时间均为一月/二月左右,因此明年印度移民团体一定会卷土重来,考虑到S.386众议院版本是高票(365对65)通过的,目前形势依然非常不乐观。
· 我听说S.386长期对中国人有好处,是真的吗?
由于S.386 是一个零和法案,不增加绿卡数目,因此有人受损失,就一定有人获益。获益的人显然为谁在绿卡中排队,谁在绿卡排队队伍中排相对靠前的位置,排队国家的人谁多谁少。根据国会报告估算,对EB1种类,在2020年新申请的中国人排期将为5年左右,S.386通过后EB1中国人排队时间将变为3年左右。然而,对真正的绿卡积压重灾区EB2,国会报告估算未来十年S.386的通过,将使两万多EB2中国人本能拿到绿卡的,拿不到绿卡。
S. 386少数受益人鼓吹所谓“长期”对eb2中国人有利,而这一长期,根据国会报告估算起码要到约十七年后,这无异于画一个大饼忽悠不了解情况的中国人。且S.386少数受益人试图通过线性增长规则预测所谓绿卡排期,事实上,对未来中美关系有所了解的人都应该有一个基本认知:印度和中国需要未来排队的国家,究竟是谁会来的更多,谁会来的更少。极端地说,假如因为政治因素中国人流入要断代式衰减,印度人有这种风险的概率极低,在移民流入上孰强孰弱,一目了然。
· 我能做什么?
由于S.386各种版本均是通过议员推动法案的形式推进,因此向议员反映情况,是最重要的、也是能起到最直接作用的办法。我们现在在非常急迫地试图寻找下一个反对的议员,尤其是某些重点州可能反对的议员需要我们说服。如果您有意帮忙,请填写此google form:https://forms.gle/L57yWzdU4G34Jh7x6