By Stuart Anderson, Contributor If the goal of the new immigration bill was to reduce illegal immigration, then the new legislation provides far too few visas to accomplish that objective. The lack of a legal visa category for the jobs most illegal immigrants fill is a core reason for illegal immigration. Unfortunately, according to the summary released by the Senate bill’s sponsors, there won’t be a chance a reasonable number of new temporary work visas will be issued until at least the year 2020. The bill’s summary states: “Beginning April 1, 2015 . . . The annual cap on the maximum number of registered positions that may be approved each year are limited for the first four years. 20,000 for the first year; 35,000 the second year; 55,000 the third year and 75,000 the fourth year.” Hundreds of thousands of people attempt to enter the United States illegally each year seeking work. As a result, the numbers cited above will be too low, particularly as the economy improves. The lack of legal visas undermines the bill’s determination that America should achieve “operational control” of the border. Whether the number will ever go above 75,000 is anyone’s guess, since the AFL-CIO achieved its goals in the bill of establishing a type of labor czar who will help determine how many workers are needed in America. F.A. Hayek wrote eloquently about the “fatal conceit” of governments acting as if they know information that by its nature they cannot know. The bill’s summary describes the complicated formula under which it might be possible to go beyond 75,000 work visas in a year: “For each year after the fourth year, the annual cap will be calculated according to a statistical formula that takes the following four factors into consideration: the rate of change in the number of new job openings in the economy; the inverse rate of change in the number of unemployed US workers; the percentage change the Bureau recommends the annual cap should increase or decrease; and the percentage difference between the number of W-visas requested in the prior fiscal year compared to the cap in the prior fiscal year.” If you read the summary closely, you’ll notice the number can also go back down the ladder as well, so there’s no guarantee that even 75,000 will endure as the annual cap. Another concern is the Department of Labor has administrative discretion under the new category, as it has with H-2B visas, a category for seasonal nonagricultural workers. DOL so overstepped its authority in restricting H-2B visas that a federal judge recently threw out its regulations. The Hill newspaper (April 11, 2013) reported on a letter sent to House members signed by the Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC), ImmigrationWorks USA, the International Franchise Association and the National Association of Home Builders advocating a large work visa category. The letter argued, “In the early 2000s, when the economy was booming, several hundred thousand unauthorized workers entered the country every year to fill low-skilled jobs for which there

From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2013/04/16/too-few-work-visas-in-new-immigration-bill/