American immigration laws have gathered dust for decades. Reform efforts have stalled amid partisan bickering. Businesses warn it’s costing the country talent.
And that’s why some U.S. politicians cast a jealous glance northward on Tuesday.
A group of lawmakers held a congressional hearing titled, “Oh, Canada! How Outdated U.S. Immigration Policies Push Top Talent to Other Countries,” in a misspelled reference to the national anthem.
It was an event ostensibly intended to seek lessons from Canada’s experience but wound up casting a spotlight on factors stymying U.S. immigration reform.
Democratic politicians who organized the hearing warned of a reverse brain-drain. They said the U.S. must make it easier to draw skilled workers.
One California lawmaker, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, whose district includes Silicon Valley, shared a news article that said tech employment is growing slower in her area than in Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton.
California Rep. Zoe Lofgren, seen here at a 2019 hearing, warned Tuesday that tech employment is growing a faster in Canadian cities than in Silicon Valley, in her district. (Tom Brenner/Reuters)
She blamed a confusing American immigration system — defined by lotteries, annual caps on visas and company-driven sponsorships of candidates.
“Is it any wonder why talented workers are moving to Canada?” asked Lofgren.
“We’re stuck in a time warp. It’s like driving around with a 30-year-old paper map while others easily navigate the road with turn-by-turn directions from their smartphones. And we’re falling behind as a result.”
She told a story about a fellow alumnus from her alma mater, Stanford University, with rare computer skills; he spent years in the U.S. as a temporary worker; he paid $4 million in taxes in the U.S.; still, he never managed to get permanent residency.
He eventually moved to Canada.
Another Democrat fumed that some of the ideas Canada uses to attract educated workers are actually American ideas — ones the U.S. never implemented.
U.S. President George W. Bush, seen here at a 2007 event on immigration reform. His effort stalled, as did efforts by Barack Obama and Donald Trump. (Larry Downing/Reuters)
Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York specifically referred to Canada’s visa program for startup companies modelled on part of a decade-old U.S. bill that stalled in Congress.
“Those who have been failed by the U.S. immigration system are now turning to Canada,” Nadler said.
“The results are paying off — with Toronto earning the moniker ‘the Silicon Valley of the North.'”
The hearing offered evidence of why American reform efforts have kept stalling — even now. It was apparent in questions raised by the different parties at the meeting, held by the House of Representatives’ justice committee.
The country’s political parties have clashing priorities.
Rep. Tom McClintock, a California Republican, said the meeting’s focus was a mistake. He also suggested Canada’s economy has little to teach the U.S. (Andrew Harnik/The Associated Press)
Republican politicians face pressure from their voters to tighten the southern border and control migration as a first objective. Democrats, meanwhile, prioritize granting a path to citizenship for past migrants.
As a result, the parties have been incapable of reaching an agreement on any plan that could get the supermajority required to pass both chambers of Congress.
Donald Trump also talked about emulating Canada’s immigration points system. It went nowhere. Just like it did under Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
With efforts at wide-ranging reform seemingly stuck again, Democrats are hoping to use a budget bill to pass some limited changes, and perhaps grant status to the young migrants known as Dreamers.
At the hearing, Republicans suggested Democrats have their priorities backward.
Several complained about its focus: instead of Canada, they said, lawmakers should be talking about Mexico and what Republicans characterize as a migration crisis on the southern border.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, seen here last year, says its frustrating that U.S. ideas for visas haven’t been passed, but that Canada has implemented them. (Susan Walsh/Pool via Reuters)
Copy Canada? Why?
One California Republican said the majority party is pursuing the wrong ideas.
Tom McClintock said Democrats are focusing on immigration changes coveted by the corporate community — the chance to bring in more foreign workers whom they can hire at low wages, he said.
“This Congress … places Americans last,” McClintock said. “And it places foreign labour and the big corporations … first.”
He also took a dig at the notion that the United States should be relying on Canada for economic lessons: he said the U.S. had higher economic growth than Canada before the pandemic, far higher worker salaries, and a far lower unemployment rate.
“Comparing their economy to ours for some reason doesn’t seem terribly appealing to me,” McClintock said. “But that may be just me.”
Furthermore, U.S. immigration levels actually remain far higher than Canada’s in absolute numbers. The U.S. attracts slightly more immigrants from Canada than Canada attracts from the U.S.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to tech-sector employees in San Francisco in 2018 about immigrating to Canada. His government, like Stephen Harper’s before him, introduced reforms to speed up immigration for skilled workers. (Jeff Chiu/The Associated Press)
On the other side of the ledger, the U.S. immigration rate has slowed significantly in recent years and the country attracts a far lower share of immigrants than Canada as a percentage of overall population.
That trend accelerated during the Trump years as Canada experienced its largest spike in skilled immigration in decades.
What witnesses said
Witnesses at the hearing expressed alarm at the current trajectory.
Stuart Anderson, a former official in the George W. Bush administration and executive director of a Washington-area think-tank on trade and immigration, said the number of Indian students has plunged at U.S. universities and surged in Canada.
“Canada views immigration as essential for economic growth,” said the prepared text of Anderson’s remarks.
“The world has changed since [the last major U.S. immigration reform in] 1990. U.S. immigration policy has not.”
He warned of potential long-term consequences. He said his own research indicates that immigrants created more than half of the U.S.’s billion-dollar startups.
And all the key players who helped create Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, he said, were immigrants to the U.S. — including Canadian-born Derrick Rossi of Harvard University.
Another witness lamented that the U.S., of all places, still uses a paper-based system rather than computers to process immigration applications. She said that causes delays.
The mentality of the U.S. system is often based on detecting fraud, rather than seeking talent, said Jennifer Grundy Young, the head of a technology trade organization.
She supplied written testimony that included the story of a colleague and her husband. They spent 18 years in the U.S. on work visas, never managed to get permanent residency, and moved to Toronto where they’re recruiting others to come to Canada.
“Make no mistake, the Canadians have come to compete,” said the submission from Grundy Young, the CEO of the Technology Councils of North America.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
