Over the years the United States has been called a nation of immigrants. The fact that it is a melting pot for so many different cultures, races, and religions makes the nation quite unique in the world. Asian Americans, Cuban-Americans, European-Americans, African-Americans, and Mexican-Americans all of different backgrounds, and different cultures, but still all united by the fact that when the hyphen is eliminated they are all considered Americans. For more than 300 years, various ethnic, cultural, and social groups have come to the shores of the United States for a multiplicity of reasons. Some have come to reunite with their loved ones, others to seek economic opportunity, and still many more to find a haven from religious and political persecution. With them, they bring their hopes, their dreams, and, in turn, contribute, enrich, and energize America.

Less than one million immigrants arrive in the United States each year. Of these, 700,000 enter as lawful permanent residents and

Within recent years, while the country is complaining of no available jobs, businesses are citing that their biggest problem is the inability to find skilled labor. Firms claim that anyone with the necessary skills can find a competitive career in America, but very few Americans are as motivated to acquire these skills as those individuals overseas, and the U.S. is encouraging these workers to continue to gain education and training and to get American dollars.

The need for skilled foreign workers is felt most prevalently in the high tech industry. The industry has added more than 1 million net new jobs since 1993. Leaders of high tech firms say that continued growth of their industry depends upon the availability of more skilled workers from abroad - since the pool of similarly skilled U.S. workers is insufficient to satisfy the demand. Black Enterprise magazine states that there are over 800,000 available jobs in the technology sector and an average of 140,000 Information Technology (IT) workers are needed annually. The Computing Technology Industry Association suggests that nearly 269,000 IT jobs are going unfilled and costing U.S. businesses approximately $4.5 billion in lost productivity. The Commerce Department believes that the nation will need at least 1.3 million new info-tech workers over the next decade to create new systems, and even more to operate them. In order to fill these positions, firms must entice skilled w!

ployment Policy Foundation, if there had been no restrictions placed on the number of these visas, sixty-two percent (62%) of companies using H-1B workers would have hired an additional 13 workers.

n natives to be confined to a state prison. Among the five states with the most immigrants--California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Texas--only New York has a greater share of immigrants in its prisons than in its general population.

another 100,000 to 150,000 enter legally as refugees or others fleeing persecution. Undocumented immigrants constitute only 1% of the total U.S. population and, contrary to popular belief, most of these immigrants do not enter the United States illegally by crossing our border with Canada or Mexico. Instead, most immigrants here illegally, 6 out of 10, enter the U.S. legally with a student, tourist, or business visa and become illegal when they stay in the United States after their visas expire. Most legal immigrants, about 8 out of 11, come to join close family members.

Booth, William, "Sweat of Their Brows Reshapes an Economy," Washington Post, July 13, 1998

H-1B visas are granted only to foreign workers with at least a Bachelor's degree and proof that a U.S. resident could not readily fill the job taken by the foreign worker. The visa allows immigrants to work and live in the U.S. for up to six years unless they achieve citizenship first. Because of the pressure from American businesses, Congress has increased the number of H-1B work visas granted to skilled foreign workers, up from 65,000 to 115,000. This cap restricts the number of foreign workers allowed to immigrate strictly for the purposes of work. The quota was reached in less than half of the fiscal year because of the high demand for these employees. The cap is scheduled to be reduced to 107,500 this year and back to 65,000 in 2002. Many firms oppose these restrictions because, with the six year limit, there can never be more than 690,000 H-1B workers in the country at one time, amounting to only 0.05 percent of the workforce. According to a survey done by the Em!

Another reason that individuals are prone to seek employment in more advanced countries lies in the fact that their own developing nations lack the infrastructure and facilities necessary for their development. For example, some developing nations possess only one medical school or even law school and even then, the material taught in these schools are at a depreciated standard as compared with more advanced nations. <

Some common words found in the essay are:
United States', America Americans, Baloney Besides, United Compared, African-Americans Mexican-Americans, Labor Statistics, Texas--only York, Commerce Department, Vietnam United, Silicon Valley, foreign workers, developing nations, immigrants total, skilled workers, permanent residents, skilled foreign workers, skilled foreign, former soviet, soviet union, adult children, lawful permanent, lawful permanent residents, former soviet union, countries refugee admissions, family preference system,
Approximate Word count = 3139
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)