01 Sep 2011

Is the U.S. Losing Entrepreneurial Edge?

As we have revisit in this week's MurthyBulletin and reported in a prior NewsBrief, available on MurthyDotCom, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is taking steps to encourage immigrant entrepreneurs and start-up companies to come to the United States. (See USCIS Announcement to Encourage...

25 Aug 2011

DHS Relaxes Deportation Policy for Certain Immigrants

Last week, the Obama administration announced a major policy shift that will focus more resources on its primary mission: removing dangerous criminals from the country. At the same time, the administration promised to stop pursuing low-priority removal (formerly, deportation) cases that are siphoning scarce enforcement...

19 Aug 2011

ICE Continues to Target Employers for I-9 Audits

Back in 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which required all U.S. employers to verify their employees' eligibility to work legally in the United States, using Form I-9 and several forms of identification. For years, enforcement of these I-9 requirements usually...

10 Aug 2011

U.S. Economic Woes: Entrepreneurs to the Rescue!

As the European debt crisis deepens and U.S. markets continue their roller-coaster ride following the debt-ceiling debacle and the debt-rating downgrade, Washington policymakers are on the lookout for ways to stimulate a slumping economy. It's about time. Throughout the debt-ceiling standoff, many Americans wondered aloud...

05 Aug 2011

Immigration Reform: Fixing High-Skilled Immigration First

Many observers have long since written off the possibility of comprehensive immigration reform, despite the President's hopeful pronouncements and sporadic attempts to revive the issue in Congress. That is not to say that immigration reform is a dead letter - just the comprehensive version. On...

25 Jul 2011

Study: Immigrants Drive Our Economy

In our last blog post, we discussed a recent Forbes.com article by Glenn Llopis, arguing that Americans need to recommit themselves to the immigrant values that made our country great. (See Forbes.com: Embrace Immigrant Values to Succeed! MurthyBlog, 21.Jul.2011.) Making his case for immigrant values,...

18 Jul 2011

India Is Number One Recipient of Remittances

As we have noted in recent postings, a large proportion of the STEM graduates from American universities - those who majored in science, technology, engineering, or math-related fields - are from overseas, especially India and China. To the consternation of American high-tech companies that want...