go_guy123
04-23 09:34 PM
I see indian comnies will apply for more B1/ B2 visas overseas.
B1/B2 is always prone to reject by 221(b). Wont impact that much.
B1/B2 is always prone to reject by 221(b). Wont impact that much.
wallpaper Rosie Huntington Whiteley
ganguteli
05-09 01:46 PM
As usual typical stereotyping devoid of any reality and isn't even worth a reply. It is clear that knowledge of the above poster about ameriacn teenager comes from watching MTV.
No wonder otherwise tolerant americans are saying "F*** You" to fraudulent indian companies trying to commit fraud under the guise of globalization.
Usual Xenophobic rant.
Which site have you come from? Who do you represent? Tell your masters to open some education classes and help you learn new technologies so that you can find a job. That is better use of your time and money.
They say, idle mind is devils workshop.
It is because of people like you USA is losing is competitive edge.
No wonder otherwise tolerant americans are saying "F*** You" to fraudulent indian companies trying to commit fraud under the guise of globalization.
Usual Xenophobic rant.
Which site have you come from? Who do you represent? Tell your masters to open some education classes and help you learn new technologies so that you can find a job. That is better use of your time and money.
They say, idle mind is devils workshop.
It is because of people like you USA is losing is competitive edge.
singhv_1980
02-05 04:44 PM
hello all,
i will really really appreciate your posts..
its been 23rd day..H1B renewal..New Delhi..still waiting for PP..i got no slip ..no warning to wait ..nothing..
But now i think its not stuck due to PIMS..it could be anything ?? some admin processing ? some security check ? some name check ??
How do we differentiate what are our passports held up for..COULD THIS BE CALLED 221(g)..i read in forums..221g can take forever ??
-Shahuja
I am not very sure but my understanding is that consulate will tell you if there is any issue reg security clearance etc (in other words 221 g).
Did VO tell you anything about administrative processing during your interview??
i will really really appreciate your posts..
its been 23rd day..H1B renewal..New Delhi..still waiting for PP..i got no slip ..no warning to wait ..nothing..
But now i think its not stuck due to PIMS..it could be anything ?? some admin processing ? some security check ? some name check ??
How do we differentiate what are our passports held up for..COULD THIS BE CALLED 221(g)..i read in forums..221g can take forever ??
-Shahuja
I am not very sure but my understanding is that consulate will tell you if there is any issue reg security clearance etc (in other words 221 g).
Did VO tell you anything about administrative processing during your interview??
2011 rosie huntington whiteley
thomachan72
06-29 07:05 PM
I dont know why everybody started to spit on ohio law firm. They just pointed out some news that they got from AILA, right? Lets hope its just a rumor and USCIS doesn't proceed with this revised thing. I am pretty sure that wont happen. Dont worry guys, but dont blame everything on ohio firm. I saw this on several other law firms too.
more...
vnsriv
03-25 03:15 PM
Please read this http://www.klaskolaw.com/library/files/desk_reference_-_employee_verification,_employer_sanctions.pdf
The HR guy is ignorant and has no clue of serious implications of discrimimation
Other link is http://www.uslaw.com/library/article/article_182.html you have to be a member.
The HR guy is ignorant and has no clue of serious implications of discrimimation
Other link is http://www.uslaw.com/library/article/article_182.html you have to be a member.
grupak
03-24 05:10 PM
OP should try to pursue this through a lawyer if s/he can. For the rest of us, maybe time to think of what we can do together to not face this again in the future. Lot of us are going to be on EAD for a while.
more...
test101
06-28 11:51 PM
I aske my lawyer to send the document on june 29th so it will reach july -1st or second. what happen if the USCIS recieve the document on july 1st?
2010 tattoo hairstyles Rosie
ncrtpMay2004
09-24 02:59 PM
There are 37275 applications with PD of 2004 or earlier. Can we make an assumption that about 20 to 30% of these would try to port once economy turns around in the next 18 to 24 months? How will this impact wait time for a EB2 with PD Jan 2006?
I am really disappointed in the info provided via the foia effort. It told me that there are only 4118 applications before me. 4118 vs 28074. Worst kind of sick joke.
Based on the PD on my 140 Approval Notice (May-2004) there are 28074 applications before me. This is the correct date.
Based on the PD on my 485 Interview Notice (Aug-2007) there are 53192 applications before me.
I do not know how my application was counted when the data was put together.
I am really disappointed in the info provided via the foia effort. It told me that there are only 4118 applications before me. 4118 vs 28074. Worst kind of sick joke.
Based on the PD on my 140 Approval Notice (May-2004) there are 28074 applications before me. This is the correct date.
Based on the PD on my 485 Interview Notice (Aug-2007) there are 53192 applications before me.
I do not know how my application was counted when the data was put together.
more...
jchan
08-07 11:03 AM
As a US Educated Master and originally EB2 filer. I think this is one of the most stupid action ever within the EB community. So you think we are not weak enough and want to divide us more?
hair Rosie Huntington-Whiteley#39;s
lostinspace
01-26 01:08 PM
It really is amazing how much hot air has been generated on this thread over a well established transit visa requirement.
The reason transit visas are required in the UK is that many passengers with an intention to transit the UK have stayed. The transit visa was introduced as a way of making sure (as much as possible) that the passenger has the intention and the ability to transit the UK and to enter a third country.
The list of nationals that are required to have a visa to transit the UK represents a list of countries where there has been a particular problem with over stayers. It is not race based, but merely an effort to target the problem.
It really does not matter what anyone thinks about the transit visa requirement because it is UK law. Everyone has a choice whether or not to transit the UK. Going back to the original post, to book a ticket without researching visa requirements and then trying to deflect personal responsibility by blaming the visa requirement is ridiculous.
The reason transit visas are required in the UK is that many passengers with an intention to transit the UK have stayed. The transit visa was introduced as a way of making sure (as much as possible) that the passenger has the intention and the ability to transit the UK and to enter a third country.
The list of nationals that are required to have a visa to transit the UK represents a list of countries where there has been a particular problem with over stayers. It is not race based, but merely an effort to target the problem.
It really does not matter what anyone thinks about the transit visa requirement because it is UK law. Everyone has a choice whether or not to transit the UK. Going back to the original post, to book a ticket without researching visa requirements and then trying to deflect personal responsibility by blaming the visa requirement is ridiculous.
more...
eastindia
04-01 09:45 AM
Guys do not feed the freeloaders by telling anything you are reading in the donor forum. Let these people help themselves by signing up for recurring contributions if they want helpful nformation about their EB2 PD movemement. We are still not meeting of our advocacy day amount. It is all because most people want free lunches. This needs to stop. The 200 people going to DC tomorrow are going to speak for you and me for yours and mine greencard. They are taking time off and spending own money for you and me. Nothing is free in this world. IV is also doing this for you and me and we are taking it for granted. Let people do some good deed today if they want to know good information
hot hot Rosie Huntington (Women
InTheMoment
05-26 07:19 PM
First of all when it is visa information it is just that!
Please see answers below
Hi Friends,
I am in the process of filling I-485 form and got the following question, can you please help?
My stamped visa expired 1 year back and I am currently with H1B approval notice. In the 2nd page of I-485 form, under Part 3. Processing Information, I am wondering what I need to fill for the following columns.
1. Nonimmigrant visa number: Is this the EAC number of my current I797 or the visa number from my expired visa?. If it is from the expired visa, there are multiple numbers in the visa stamp, which one is the visa number?
------> The figures in red, not the control number on your
visa stamp.
2.Consulate where visa was issued: Is it the name of the consulate issued my last visa or Department?
------> If it was issued at a consulate state that, if
department mention department.
3.Date visa isssued: Is this is the date of last visa issued or the approval date of my current I797
-----> Again the one on your visa stamp.
Thanks advance for all your valuable suggestions.
Please see answers below
Hi Friends,
I am in the process of filling I-485 form and got the following question, can you please help?
My stamped visa expired 1 year back and I am currently with H1B approval notice. In the 2nd page of I-485 form, under Part 3. Processing Information, I am wondering what I need to fill for the following columns.
1. Nonimmigrant visa number: Is this the EAC number of my current I797 or the visa number from my expired visa?. If it is from the expired visa, there are multiple numbers in the visa stamp, which one is the visa number?
------> The figures in red, not the control number on your
visa stamp.
2.Consulate where visa was issued: Is it the name of the consulate issued my last visa or Department?
------> If it was issued at a consulate state that, if
department mention department.
3.Date visa isssued: Is this is the date of last visa issued or the approval date of my current I797
-----> Again the one on your visa stamp.
Thanks advance for all your valuable suggestions.
more...
house Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Hair
gdhiren
07-12 03:04 PM
Although much older anouncements and news are still there.
Apparently they want everybody to forget about this ASAP, let alone attract any further interest or god forbid inquiries. I don't know who in the world can still beleive that they are a "service" and we are "customers".
I pity Gonzales now, may be Chertoff called him up and said why on the earth is he responding to flower campaign? Or may be Walter Reed Soldiers refused to accept mourning flowers. LOL....
I smell something fishy... is it just me???
Apparently they want everybody to forget about this ASAP, let alone attract any further interest or god forbid inquiries. I don't know who in the world can still beleive that they are a "service" and we are "customers".
I pity Gonzales now, may be Chertoff called him up and said why on the earth is he responding to flower campaign? Or may be Walter Reed Soldiers refused to accept mourning flowers. LOL....
I smell something fishy... is it just me???
tattoo Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
sri1309
03-12 01:16 PM
Dear Sri1309,
Good morning!! Thanks a lot for your message about the letter to Ms Zoe. I think your letter is very fine. Good luck to everyone on immigration issue!!
I have a question on your solution#4) "granting citizenship to people who have stayed in US for 10 years by rules to pay taxes". The 10 years ----are you talking about several years of study plus several years of working in US in H-1B visa ONLY or for any people who have legally stayed in US for 10 years??? I raise this question because I am curious to know whether I will fit this category. I was a foreign student in US for 10 years and pay foreign student tuition fee in full for 10 years. The first 6 years in several degrees and then back home and then come to US again for professional doctorate degree in 4 years. Originally I find employer to file me the H-1B visa but the quota for Master degree or above is full and then I back home until now. I am sure someone has similar situations to me!!
From other forum, someone said that it is extremely difficult to legalize the illegal aliens due to recent huge economic recession. But if each illegal aliens give non-refundable $5000 immigration entry fee to the country, the country will have about $60 billion fixed income. Then I immediately have thought about if our international students who have stayed in US for 5 years or above give more immigration entry fee to the country, the country will have tremendous cash flow into the economy and may help the economic crisis. I have previously replied to somebody and the link is as below:
This thread is located at:
http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=23955&goto=newpost
Do you think my thought is stupid and unreasonable??? If someone thinks a better idea/thought, please correct my idea. Anyway, good luck to everyone on the immigration issue because this topic is very tough due to recent economic recession!!
Have a nice day!! Thanks a lot!!
I will come to your quesiton, but let me ask the other guys who just responded, a question.
Sunx_2004, Sarala, and ALL
Thanks for the compliments, I'm happy but we will be thrilled if apart from compliments, if you've said that you have just written to change.gov or to atleast one or two reps. Just spend a $10 on postage stamps. Dont think the reps dont read our letters.
If you want a green from me, in your reply, please reply with atleast that you have posted this on change.gov, under Agenda--> Immigration--> Submit your ideas. OK? after really doing it.
when two of you do, it will make 4 others do.. then 16.., read my other thread by searching "Chain reaction".. that too went down the drain..
Now to this post.. Ofcors how can I not include you in this.One of the last points clearly says to give a greencard to anyone who graduates here. Now its upto them to let in quality students., I support filters at entry level into schools or jobs, not to those who have spent 5-10 years here..
My point is 5 years in US legally and 10 years in US legally. No matter if you went to school, or were on H1 from day one.
Also I am sure you have good # of friends in situation like you are in. Pass this message to them also to write and also about IV.
But dont wait for anyone to come and help you out. Create a snowball affect which gathers mass as it rolls.
Good morning!! Thanks a lot for your message about the letter to Ms Zoe. I think your letter is very fine. Good luck to everyone on immigration issue!!
I have a question on your solution#4) "granting citizenship to people who have stayed in US for 10 years by rules to pay taxes". The 10 years ----are you talking about several years of study plus several years of working in US in H-1B visa ONLY or for any people who have legally stayed in US for 10 years??? I raise this question because I am curious to know whether I will fit this category. I was a foreign student in US for 10 years and pay foreign student tuition fee in full for 10 years. The first 6 years in several degrees and then back home and then come to US again for professional doctorate degree in 4 years. Originally I find employer to file me the H-1B visa but the quota for Master degree or above is full and then I back home until now. I am sure someone has similar situations to me!!
From other forum, someone said that it is extremely difficult to legalize the illegal aliens due to recent huge economic recession. But if each illegal aliens give non-refundable $5000 immigration entry fee to the country, the country will have about $60 billion fixed income. Then I immediately have thought about if our international students who have stayed in US for 5 years or above give more immigration entry fee to the country, the country will have tremendous cash flow into the economy and may help the economic crisis. I have previously replied to somebody and the link is as below:
This thread is located at:
http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=23955&goto=newpost
Do you think my thought is stupid and unreasonable??? If someone thinks a better idea/thought, please correct my idea. Anyway, good luck to everyone on the immigration issue because this topic is very tough due to recent economic recession!!
Have a nice day!! Thanks a lot!!
I will come to your quesiton, but let me ask the other guys who just responded, a question.
Sunx_2004, Sarala, and ALL
Thanks for the compliments, I'm happy but we will be thrilled if apart from compliments, if you've said that you have just written to change.gov or to atleast one or two reps. Just spend a $10 on postage stamps. Dont think the reps dont read our letters.
If you want a green from me, in your reply, please reply with atleast that you have posted this on change.gov, under Agenda--> Immigration--> Submit your ideas. OK? after really doing it.
when two of you do, it will make 4 others do.. then 16.., read my other thread by searching "Chain reaction".. that too went down the drain..
Now to this post.. Ofcors how can I not include you in this.One of the last points clearly says to give a greencard to anyone who graduates here. Now its upto them to let in quality students., I support filters at entry level into schools or jobs, not to those who have spent 5-10 years here..
My point is 5 years in US legally and 10 years in US legally. No matter if you went to school, or were on H1 from day one.
Also I am sure you have good # of friends in situation like you are in. Pass this message to them also to write and also about IV.
But dont wait for anyone to come and help you out. Create a snowball affect which gathers mass as it rolls.
more...
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Robert Kumar
04-04 06:32 AM
Getting any sort of data out of any of the immigration agencies is often frustrating. Especially something like how many eb2 I-140 did they accept, approve, deny... However, they do randomly throw number out and we can scavenge through them for `clues'. Here is one such link.
USCIS: National Processing Volumes and Trends (http://dashboard.uscis.gov/index.cfm?formtype=7&office=5&charttype=1)
I agree, thanks.
USCIS: National Processing Volumes and Trends (http://dashboard.uscis.gov/index.cfm?formtype=7&office=5&charttype=1)
I agree, thanks.
dresses Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Hair
reddymjm
08-07 03:35 PM
Calling all EB3-I with PD before Nov 2005. Please get 3 desi firm names from Sunny_Surya and start EB2 filing. Then port your PD's.
GCCovet
May be Sunny Surya has his own company. He is looking for people who want to port and this is negative advertizment....
GCCovet
May be Sunny Surya has his own company. He is looking for people who want to port and this is negative advertizment....
more...
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yabadaba
01-24 04:25 PM
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english_august
07-11 08:31 AM
This link has been updated with all the new information overnight and this morning
http://www.touchdownusa.org/floral/FloralProtest.html
Please keep sending it out and help keep a high hit rate on these sites. It also helps a lot if you can post comments or send letters to the editors regarding these articles.
http://www.touchdownusa.org/floral/FloralProtest.html
Please keep sending it out and help keep a high hit rate on these sites. It also helps a lot if you can post comments or send letters to the editors regarding these articles.
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jasmin45
07-13 07:24 AM
The whole controversy involving Lou Dobbs and leprosy started with a “60 Minutes” segment a few weeks ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/30/business/30leonside.html
Robert Caplin for The New York Times
Lou Dobbs was at the anchor desk for CNN’s 2006 election coverage.
Related Articles
Immigrants and Prison (May 30, 2007)
Bush Takes On Conservatives Over Immigration (May 30, 2007)
Reader Responses (May 30, 2007)
Episodes of "Lou Dobbs Tonight"
"60 Minutes" of May 6, 2007 Leprosy Statistics The segment was a profile of Mr. Dobbs, and while doing background research for it, a “60 Minutes” producer came across a 2005 news report from Mr. Dobbs’s CNN program on contagious diseases. In the report, one of Mr. Dobbs’s correspondents said there had been 7,000 cases of leprosy in this country over the previous three years, far more than in the past.
When Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes” sat down to interview Mr. Dobbs on camera, she mentioned the report and told him that there didn’t seem to be much evidence for it.
“Well, I can tell you this,” he replied. “If we reported it, it’s a fact.”
With that Orwellian chestnut, Mr. Dobbs escalated the leprosy dispute into a full-scale media brouhaha. The next night, back on his own program, the same CNN correspondent who had done the earlier report, Christine Romans, repeated the 7,000 number, and Mr. Dobbs added that, if anything, it was probably an underestimate. A week later, the Southern Poverty Law Center — the civil rights group that has long been critical of Mr. Dobbs — took out advertisements in The New York Times and USA Today demanding that CNN run a correction.
Finally, Mr. Dobbs played host to two top officials from the law center on his program, “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” where he called their accusations outrageous and they called him wrong, unfair and “one of the most popular people on the white supremacist Web sites.”
We’ll get to the merits of the charges and countercharges shortly, but first it’s worth considering why, beyond entertainment value, all this matters. Over the last few years, Lou Dobbs has transformed himself into arguably this country’s foremost populist. It’s an odd role, given that he spent the 1980s and ’90s buttering up chief executives on CNN, but he’s now playing it very successfully. He has become a voice for the real economic anxiety felt by many Americans.
The audience for his program has grown 72 percent since 2003, and CBS — yes, the same network that broadcasts “60 Minutes” — just hired him as a commentator on “The Early Show.” Many elites, as Mr. Dobbs likes to call them, despise him, but others see him as a hero. His latest book, “War on the Middle Class,” was a best seller and received a sympathetic review in this newspaper. Mario Cuomo has said Mr. Dobbs is “addicted to economic truth.”
Mr. Dobbs argues that the middle class has many enemies: corporate lobbyists, greedy executives, wimpy journalists, corrupt politicians. But none play a bigger role than illegal immigrants. As he sees it, they are stealing our jobs, depressing our wages and even endangering our lives.
That’s where leprosy comes in.
“The invasion of illegal aliens is threatening the health of many Americans,” Mr. Dobbs said on his April 14, 2005, program. From there, he introduced his original report that mentioned leprosy, the flesh-destroying disease — technically known as Hansen’s disease — that has inspired fear for centuries.
According to a woman CNN identified as a medical lawyer named Dr. Madeleine Cosman, leprosy was on the march. As Ms. Romans, the CNN correspondent, relayed: “There were about 900 cases of leprosy for 40 years. There have been 7,000 in the past three years.”
“Incredible,” Mr. Dobbs replied.
Mr. Dobbs and Ms. Romans engaged in a nearly identical conversation a few weeks ago, when he was defending himself the night after the “60 Minutes” segment. “Suddenly, in the past three years, America has more than 7,000 cases of leprosy,” she said, again attributing the number to Ms. Cosman.
To sort through all this, I called James L. Krahenbuhl, the director of the National Hansen’s Disease Program, an arm of the federal government. Leprosy in the United States is indeed largely a disease of immigrants who have come from Asia and Latin America. And the official leprosy statistics do show about 7,000 diagnosed cases — but that’s over the last 30 years, not the last three.
The peak year was 1983, when there were 456 cases. After that, reported cases dropped steadily, falling to just 76 in 2000. Last year, there were 137.
“It is not a public health problem — that’s the bottom line,” Mr. Krahenbuhl told me. “You’ve got a country of 300 million people. This is not something for the public to get alarmed about.” Much about the disease remains unknown, but researchers think people get it through prolonged close contact with someone who already has it.
What about the increase over the last six years, to 137 cases from 76? Is that significant?
“No,” Mr. Krahenbuhl said. It could be a statistical fluctuation, or it could be a result of better data collection in recent years. In any event, the 137 reported cases last year were fewer than in any year from 1975 to 1996.
So Mr. Dobbs was flat-out wrong. And when I spoke to him yesterday, he admitted as much, sort of. I read him Ms. Romans’s comment — the one with the word “suddenly” in it — and he replied, “I think that is wrong.” He then went on to say that as far as he was concerned, he had corrected the mistake by later broadcasting another report, on the same night as his on-air confrontation with the Southern Poverty Law Center officials. This report mentioned that leprosy had peaked in 1983.
Of course, he has never acknowledged on the air that his program presented false information twice. Instead, he lambasted the officials from the law center for saying he had. Even yesterday, he spent much of our conversation emphasizing that there really were 7,000 cases in the leprosy registry, the government’s 30-year database. Mr. Dobbs is trying to have it both ways.
I have been somewhat taken aback about how shameless he has been during the whole dispute, so I spent some time reading transcripts from old episodes of “Lou Dobbs Tonight.” The way he handled leprosy, it turns out, is not all that unusual.
For one thing, Mr. Dobbs has a somewhat flexible relationship with reality. He has said, for example, that one-third of the inmates in the federal prison system are illegal immigrants. That’s wrong, too. According to the Justice Department, 6 percent of prisoners in this country are noncitizens (compared with 7 percent of the population). For a variety of reasons, the crime rate is actually lower among immigrants than natives.
Second, Mr. Dobbs really does give airtime to white supremacy sympathizers. Ms. Cosman, who is now deceased, was a lawyer and Renaissance studies scholar, never a medical doctor or a leprosy expert. She gave speeches in which she said that Mexican immigrants had a habit of molesting children. Back in their home villages, she would explain, rape was not as serious a crime as cow stealing. The Southern Poverty Law Center keeps a list of other such guests from “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”
Finally, Mr. Dobbs is fond of darkly hinting that this country is under attack. He suggested last week that the new immigration bill in Congress could be the first step toward a new nation — a “North American union” — that combines the United States, Canada and Mexico. On other occasions, his program has described a supposed Mexican plot to reclaim the Southwest. In one such report, one of his correspondents referred to a Utah visit by Vicente Fox, then Mexico’s president, as a “Mexican military incursion.”
When I asked Mr. Dobbs about this yesterday, he said, “You’ve raised this to a level that frankly I find offensive.”
The most common complaint about him, at least from other journalists, is that his program combines factual reporting with editorializing. But I think this misses the point. Americans, as a rule, are smart enough to handle a program that mixes opinion and facts. The problem with Mr. Dobbs is that he mixes opinion and untruths. He is the heir to the nativist tradition that has long used fiction and conspiracy theories as a weapon against the Irish, the Italians, the Chinese, the Jews and, now, the Mexicans.
There is no denying that this country’s immigration system is broken. But it defies belief — and a whole lot of economic research — to suggest that the problems of the middle class stem from illegal immigrants. Those immigrants, remember, are largely non-English speakers without a high school diploma. They have probably hurt the wages of native-born high school dropouts and made everyone else better off.
More to the point, if Mr. Dobbs’s arguments were really so good, don’t you think he would be able to stick to the facts? And if CNN were serious about being “the most trusted name in news,” as it claims to be, don’t you think it would be big enough to issue an actual correction?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/30/business/30leonside.html
Robert Caplin for The New York Times
Lou Dobbs was at the anchor desk for CNN’s 2006 election coverage.
Related Articles
Immigrants and Prison (May 30, 2007)
Bush Takes On Conservatives Over Immigration (May 30, 2007)
Reader Responses (May 30, 2007)
Episodes of "Lou Dobbs Tonight"
"60 Minutes" of May 6, 2007 Leprosy Statistics The segment was a profile of Mr. Dobbs, and while doing background research for it, a “60 Minutes” producer came across a 2005 news report from Mr. Dobbs’s CNN program on contagious diseases. In the report, one of Mr. Dobbs’s correspondents said there had been 7,000 cases of leprosy in this country over the previous three years, far more than in the past.
When Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes” sat down to interview Mr. Dobbs on camera, she mentioned the report and told him that there didn’t seem to be much evidence for it.
“Well, I can tell you this,” he replied. “If we reported it, it’s a fact.”
With that Orwellian chestnut, Mr. Dobbs escalated the leprosy dispute into a full-scale media brouhaha. The next night, back on his own program, the same CNN correspondent who had done the earlier report, Christine Romans, repeated the 7,000 number, and Mr. Dobbs added that, if anything, it was probably an underestimate. A week later, the Southern Poverty Law Center — the civil rights group that has long been critical of Mr. Dobbs — took out advertisements in The New York Times and USA Today demanding that CNN run a correction.
Finally, Mr. Dobbs played host to two top officials from the law center on his program, “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” where he called their accusations outrageous and they called him wrong, unfair and “one of the most popular people on the white supremacist Web sites.”
We’ll get to the merits of the charges and countercharges shortly, but first it’s worth considering why, beyond entertainment value, all this matters. Over the last few years, Lou Dobbs has transformed himself into arguably this country’s foremost populist. It’s an odd role, given that he spent the 1980s and ’90s buttering up chief executives on CNN, but he’s now playing it very successfully. He has become a voice for the real economic anxiety felt by many Americans.
The audience for his program has grown 72 percent since 2003, and CBS — yes, the same network that broadcasts “60 Minutes” — just hired him as a commentator on “The Early Show.” Many elites, as Mr. Dobbs likes to call them, despise him, but others see him as a hero. His latest book, “War on the Middle Class,” was a best seller and received a sympathetic review in this newspaper. Mario Cuomo has said Mr. Dobbs is “addicted to economic truth.”
Mr. Dobbs argues that the middle class has many enemies: corporate lobbyists, greedy executives, wimpy journalists, corrupt politicians. But none play a bigger role than illegal immigrants. As he sees it, they are stealing our jobs, depressing our wages and even endangering our lives.
That’s where leprosy comes in.
“The invasion of illegal aliens is threatening the health of many Americans,” Mr. Dobbs said on his April 14, 2005, program. From there, he introduced his original report that mentioned leprosy, the flesh-destroying disease — technically known as Hansen’s disease — that has inspired fear for centuries.
According to a woman CNN identified as a medical lawyer named Dr. Madeleine Cosman, leprosy was on the march. As Ms. Romans, the CNN correspondent, relayed: “There were about 900 cases of leprosy for 40 years. There have been 7,000 in the past three years.”
“Incredible,” Mr. Dobbs replied.
Mr. Dobbs and Ms. Romans engaged in a nearly identical conversation a few weeks ago, when he was defending himself the night after the “60 Minutes” segment. “Suddenly, in the past three years, America has more than 7,000 cases of leprosy,” she said, again attributing the number to Ms. Cosman.
To sort through all this, I called James L. Krahenbuhl, the director of the National Hansen’s Disease Program, an arm of the federal government. Leprosy in the United States is indeed largely a disease of immigrants who have come from Asia and Latin America. And the official leprosy statistics do show about 7,000 diagnosed cases — but that’s over the last 30 years, not the last three.
The peak year was 1983, when there were 456 cases. After that, reported cases dropped steadily, falling to just 76 in 2000. Last year, there were 137.
“It is not a public health problem — that’s the bottom line,” Mr. Krahenbuhl told me. “You’ve got a country of 300 million people. This is not something for the public to get alarmed about.” Much about the disease remains unknown, but researchers think people get it through prolonged close contact with someone who already has it.
What about the increase over the last six years, to 137 cases from 76? Is that significant?
“No,” Mr. Krahenbuhl said. It could be a statistical fluctuation, or it could be a result of better data collection in recent years. In any event, the 137 reported cases last year were fewer than in any year from 1975 to 1996.
So Mr. Dobbs was flat-out wrong. And when I spoke to him yesterday, he admitted as much, sort of. I read him Ms. Romans’s comment — the one with the word “suddenly” in it — and he replied, “I think that is wrong.” He then went on to say that as far as he was concerned, he had corrected the mistake by later broadcasting another report, on the same night as his on-air confrontation with the Southern Poverty Law Center officials. This report mentioned that leprosy had peaked in 1983.
Of course, he has never acknowledged on the air that his program presented false information twice. Instead, he lambasted the officials from the law center for saying he had. Even yesterday, he spent much of our conversation emphasizing that there really were 7,000 cases in the leprosy registry, the government’s 30-year database. Mr. Dobbs is trying to have it both ways.
I have been somewhat taken aback about how shameless he has been during the whole dispute, so I spent some time reading transcripts from old episodes of “Lou Dobbs Tonight.” The way he handled leprosy, it turns out, is not all that unusual.
For one thing, Mr. Dobbs has a somewhat flexible relationship with reality. He has said, for example, that one-third of the inmates in the federal prison system are illegal immigrants. That’s wrong, too. According to the Justice Department, 6 percent of prisoners in this country are noncitizens (compared with 7 percent of the population). For a variety of reasons, the crime rate is actually lower among immigrants than natives.
Second, Mr. Dobbs really does give airtime to white supremacy sympathizers. Ms. Cosman, who is now deceased, was a lawyer and Renaissance studies scholar, never a medical doctor or a leprosy expert. She gave speeches in which she said that Mexican immigrants had a habit of molesting children. Back in their home villages, she would explain, rape was not as serious a crime as cow stealing. The Southern Poverty Law Center keeps a list of other such guests from “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”
Finally, Mr. Dobbs is fond of darkly hinting that this country is under attack. He suggested last week that the new immigration bill in Congress could be the first step toward a new nation — a “North American union” — that combines the United States, Canada and Mexico. On other occasions, his program has described a supposed Mexican plot to reclaim the Southwest. In one such report, one of his correspondents referred to a Utah visit by Vicente Fox, then Mexico’s president, as a “Mexican military incursion.”
When I asked Mr. Dobbs about this yesterday, he said, “You’ve raised this to a level that frankly I find offensive.”
The most common complaint about him, at least from other journalists, is that his program combines factual reporting with editorializing. But I think this misses the point. Americans, as a rule, are smart enough to handle a program that mixes opinion and facts. The problem with Mr. Dobbs is that he mixes opinion and untruths. He is the heir to the nativist tradition that has long used fiction and conspiracy theories as a weapon against the Irish, the Italians, the Chinese, the Jews and, now, the Mexicans.
There is no denying that this country’s immigration system is broken. But it defies belief — and a whole lot of economic research — to suggest that the problems of the middle class stem from illegal immigrants. Those immigrants, remember, are largely non-English speakers without a high school diploma. They have probably hurt the wages of native-born high school dropouts and made everyone else better off.
More to the point, if Mr. Dobbs’s arguments were really so good, don’t you think he would be able to stick to the facts? And if CNN were serious about being “the most trusted name in news,” as it claims to be, don’t you think it would be big enough to issue an actual correction?
cableching
09-23 11:28 PM
If EB2 row perm hits 10000 apps thats it pd wont move a bit. That will happen as soon as hiring starts again. This will happen any time, if this not happen until sep 2010, then EB2 has a chance. There are about 15000 (approx) EB2 Row apps siiting ducks in Perm centers, if ROW PErm eb2 approvals start flowing then we are just stuck. It all depends on EB2 Row Now. That is the one we need to watch closely.
Even if the economy improves, it will take some time to plan the recruitment, then hiring people and then they will take sometime to start the PERM process and then filing it and getting the approval. FOr all these things to happen, it will be a minimum of one year ad even it may cross two years. Don't bother too much about this.
I prefer the economy to improve over getting GC, if economy is good we will not have to worry about getting a Job if laid off and also, if we have EAD we can change jobs easily and many of the problems without the GC are not that siginificant then.
Even if the economy improves, it will take some time to plan the recruitment, then hiring people and then they will take sometime to start the PERM process and then filing it and getting the approval. FOr all these things to happen, it will be a minimum of one year ad even it may cross two years. Don't bother too much about this.
I prefer the economy to improve over getting GC, if economy is good we will not have to worry about getting a Job if laid off and also, if we have EAD we can change jobs easily and many of the problems without the GC are not that siginificant then.
PlainSpeak
04-06 08:32 AM
And their news page has also changed to reflect this "modest" movement (previously it stated - "the movement will not be weeks or months but could be years")
On both extremes, it's nothing but just an attempt to generate traffic to the website I guess.
Interesting that he claims - the modest movement will be because of the 7% country cap. In my understanding, it does not apply when spiilover happens (plz correct me if I am wrong)
Yes you are right ..
Country caps are not followed or implemented in spillover visas. Why do you think EB2I moved to May 2006 last year July 2010
On both extremes, it's nothing but just an attempt to generate traffic to the website I guess.
Interesting that he claims - the modest movement will be because of the 7% country cap. In my understanding, it does not apply when spiilover happens (plz correct me if I am wrong)
Yes you are right ..
Country caps are not followed or implemented in spillover visas. Why do you think EB2I moved to May 2006 last year July 2010
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