As Congress slow-walks and the courts slow-down much-needed immigration reforms, the Trump administration continues to utilize its regulatory powers to disassemble programs created during the Obama administration that effectively undermined U.S. immigration laws.<\/p>\n
The latest target is the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER), a regulation which gives \u201cparole\u201d to foreign entrepreneurs who would otherwise be ineligible to \u201ctemporarily\u201d enter the country to build start-up businesses.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, DHS posted its proposal in the Federal Register<\/a> to eliminate the special allowance arguing that the rule represents an overly broad interpretation of parole authority, does not have sufficient protections for American workers, and is prone to abuse.\u00a0The public has 30 days to comment.<\/p>\n Jeh Johnson, Obama\u2019s DHS Secretary, cited the authority granted under Section 212(d)(5)(A) of the INA of the Immigration and Naturalization Act to give parole \u201conly on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201ccase-by-case\u201d restriction was purposefully included in 1996 to address years of abuse of the parole authority \u201cunder which whole classes of favored aliens who didn\u2019t qualify\u201d under existing refugee or other visa programs gained a foothold in the U.S., noted Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in a 2016 letter<\/a> to Johnson.<\/p>\n Because the new rule would permit an \u201cunlimited number of people\u201d who could satisfy the parole criteria\u201d into the U.S., Grassley stated it was \u201cwithout question unlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n To those who view U.S. immigration law as an obstruction to financial gain or furtherance of their special interests, the question of legality is a side issue.<\/p>\n So it is no surprise that the open border chorus has chimed in on DHS\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n Steve Case, CEO of Revolution and founder of America Online, sang the same tune, writing<\/a> in Inc.<\/u> bringing in foreign entrepreneurs \u201chas the potential to create hundreds of thousands of high-quality jobs\u201d for those in the heartland and in the \u201cnascent startup ecosystems located beyond traditional startup hubs.\u201d<\/p>\n FWD.us, the group co-founded by Facebook\u2019s Mark Zuckerberg, claimed to be \u201cdeeply disappointed by the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s continued failure to drive economic growth through the International Entrepreneur Rule.\u201d<\/p>\n