What will be the new US immigration policy?

November 05 2008 by Liam Clifford

Barack Obama's landslide victory in the American Presidential Election this morning was in some part due to the support he received from millions of Hispanic voters and other pro-immigrant groups. About a million immigrants registered to vote for the first time in yesterday's election.

Speculation has already begun about the immigration policy of the new US president.

During the Bush administration, tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants were deported by the Department of Homeland Security. Obama, by contrast, voted in 2006 for a bill offering legal status to illegal immigrants subject to conditions, including English proficiency and payment of back taxes and fines.

Obama recently spoke in an interview about his H1B Visa policy: "I will support a temporary increase in the H-1B visa program as a stopgap measure until we can reform our immigration system comprehensively," he said.

"I support comprehensive immigration reform that includes improvement in our visa programs, including our legal permanent resident visa programs and temporary programs including the H-1B program, to attract some of the world's most talented people to America. We should allow immigrants who earn their degrees in the U.S. to stay, work, and become Americans over time."

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