Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has proposed that the Feds allow 50,000 additional visas for highly skilled immigrants if they're willing to live in Detroit for five years.
Priority would be given to graduates of Michigan universities. Despite widespread support from both parties in the state the Obama administration has yet to rule on the request.
As supportive as I am of this plan, how would the Obama administration (or the feds in general) benefit from this? It seems to favor Detroit by requiring that immigrants live in the city for five years while affecting the immigration policy of the nation. More cynically, Michigan isn't exactly a swing state for presidential elections, so I don't really see the angle here?
Given much of the country's antipathy towards immigrants, you'd probably get a lot of people saying it disfavors Detroit. Might be a good experiment to prove them wrong...
On a constitutional level, that's not necessarily true of immigrants. The states generally can't impose such limits on immigrants because regulating immigration is Constitutionally a reserved federal power, so it would be a Supremacy Clause issue. The feds, however, almost certainly can impose place-of-residency restrictions on immigrants without a Constitutional amendment.
That's not how it would work. The feds clearly won't even impose "are you here legally in the first place" restrictions. Bush and Obama have made that perfectly clear.
Anyway, the whole idea stinks of shit like the propaganda line "jobs americans won't do." You really think Americans are some sort of idiots that couldn't make use of the land and infrastructure in Detroit given proper reforms? Apparently we're too dumb and need some foreigners to lead the way.
How politically things are likely to work is a different question from what is Constitutionally required.
EDIT: also,
> The feds clearly won't even impose "are you here legally in the first place" restrictions. Bush and Obama have made that perfectly clear.
George W. Bush's administration engaged in some of the most extreme uses of every federal power available (and more)over immigrants since WWII in the wake of 9/11.
They may not have used that power where you want them to, but that's a different issue.
I'm assuming a conditional visa that transitions to permanent residency (green card) if one lives in Detroit for five years is legal, though. Many visas are restricted to employers, for example, and Canada has a similar system through the provincial nominee program.
Hmm. Now that you mention it, it would probably be much simpler, legally, to make something like a visa specifically granted to companies based in Detroit, to bring their workers to the US. The workers wouldn't be legally obligated to stay in Detroit... but the companies are probably going to want them to.
Priority would be given to graduates of Michigan universities. Despite widespread support from both parties in the state the Obama administration has yet to rule on the request.
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20140123/NEWS/140129933...