The bills stated purpose of adopting a meritbased system is that the United States benefits from a workforce that has diverse skills. experience. and training. and I happen to agree. I am simply not convinced that a history of breaking the law contributes to this goal more than education and actual experience on the job. So my amendment simply strikes the special schedule that makes people who have violated our immigration laws eligible for 50 percent more points than anyone else. Z visa holders would. however. still be eligible for up to 100 points under the regular schedulethe exact same number as anybody else. We should not reward those who have broken the law. and we certainly should not punish those who have abided by the law. Now. an argument that has been made against this amendment is that somehow or other it will strike at the heart of the AgJOB provisions. My amendment does nothing to limit the number of agricultural workers. The number of H2A agricultural visas remains uncapped. Under current law and under the bill. there is no numerical limitation on agricultural visas. Even though it is unlimited. only about 35.000 H2As are issued each year. If this bill passes. anywhere from 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens will instantly gain legal status. The question is: Are those people not able to fill these agricultural jobs? Of course they are.
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visa visas H2A illegal aliens immigration