{"id":4521,"date":"2013-09-04T15:22:03","date_gmt":"2013-09-04T19:22:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=4521"},"modified":"2018-12-28T15:40:22","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T20:40:22","slug":"isnt-a-half-truth-the-equivalent-of-a-lie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2013\/09\/04\/isnt-a-half-truth-the-equivalent-of-a-lie\/","title":{"rendered":"Isn’t a Half-Truth the Equivalent of a Lie?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cardinal<\/a>Washington D.C.’s, archbishop emeritus, Theodore McCarrick, wrote an impassioned call in the Washington Post September 1, 2013<\/a> for adopting the Senate’s immigration reform bill that includes an amnesty. In his argument for the legislation, he claimed:<\/p>\n

Despite this real need, U.S. immigration law fails to provide channels for these workers to migrate safely and legally. Visas for low-skilled workers are absurdly small given demand, with only 5,000 permanent work visas available each year.<\/em><\/p>\n

That statement is profoundly misleading. The 5,000 visas McCarrick refers to are immigrant visas set aside for employers to sponsor low-skilled workers (often extended family members). But, the statement obscures the fact that there are guest worker visa programs specifically designed to allow low-skilled workers to enter the country to take temporary jobs. There are separate programs for both agricultural and non-agricultural low-skilled workers. The agricultural guest worker visa program (H-2A visas) has no limit on the number of such workers. In addition a large share of the more than a million immigrants admitted each year at present are coming to join the workforce and only a small fraction of them are professionals sponsored by an employer. Many of the others, including refugees, take low-skill jobs.