The Wall Street Journal - 07.09.2019 - 08.09.2019

A4| Saturday/Sunday, September 7 - 8, 2019 PWLC101112HTGKBFAM123456789OIXX ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.**

ALongWait

AnanalysisbythenonpartisanMigrationPolicyInstitutepredictstheeffectonwaittimesfor

employment-basedgreencardsifabillthatpassedtheHouseinJulybecomeslaw.

Source: Migration Policy Institute analysis of data from the State Department and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

*contingent on enactment of HR1044 (or House Resolution 1044)

Preference:

Type:

Yearstoclear

currentbacklog:*

India

China

Philippines

ElSalvador,

Guatemala

andHonduras

Vietnam

Mexico

Allothers

1 2 3 4 5

Priority

workers,

researchers

Professionals

withadvanced

degrees

Skilledworkers Religious

workers,abused

orabandoned

juveniles

Investors

4.3 13.5 5.9 3.3 13.

84,454 446,755 137,161 235 541

60,

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

920

712

0

0

0

0

0

0

35,713 13,

367 15,

3,877 4,268 11,579 460 2,

98,

24,

978

3,

Wait-listedworkersbynationoforigin

POLITICS

Jay Indurkar, with his son Aayush, left, and daughter Myra, has waited years to get a green card.

CHRISTOPHER SMITH FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

WASHINGTON

WIRE

Dispatches from the

Nation’s Capital

on temporary H-1B visas for

high-skilled technical workers.

The number of those visas is

capped annually at 85,000 but

the U.S. government has ap-

proved more than 200,000 ad-

ditional visas in each of the

past five years, many of them

for workers in the green-card

backlog, according to the non-

partisan Migration Policy In-

stitute, a think tank.

Republicans have resisted

efforts in recent years to boost

the overall number of green

cards. Some are willing to in-

crease employment-based

green cards, but only if the

U.S. cuts family and diversity

green cards—a no-go for Dem-

ocrats.

Both the Senate and House

believe one result would be to

dramatically increase the wait

time for green cards for other

workers from overseas, partic-

ularly nurses from the Philip-

pines.

The U.S. gives out a limited

number of green cards—about

1.1 million annually. About 14%

go to employment-based ap-

plicants such as Mr. Indurkar.

The rest go to family members

looking to join relatives in the

U.S., or winners of the diver-

sity lottery, which allows peo-

ple from countries with histor-

ically low rates of immigration

to the U.S. a chance to obtain

visas.

Many of those awaiting

green cards such as Mr. In-

durkar have stayed in the U.S.

seek to expedite permanent

residency for workers they say

they need at a time when little

suggests that the overall num-

ber of green cards issued will

rise.

Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft

and other tech and telecom-

munications giants are lobby-

ing Congress to pass Mr. Lee’s

bill to help software engineers

and other high-tech workers

from India who are stuck in

the backlog. Also pushing for

the bill is Immigration Voice, a

nonprofit social-welfare group

founded by Indian immigrant

workers.

The American Hospital As-

sociation and AMN Healthcare,

a health-care staffing agency,

oppose the bill because they

The advisers in the second

meeting, with a smaller group

of top donors, focused more

on the need for voters to know

Ms. Harris better—and on the

campaign’s strategy to accom-

plish that through clearer mes-

saging of her values and policy

positions, the people said.

The meetings in Manhattan

drew dozens and included do-

nors from the finance, media

and legal industries.

The advisers also discussed

the dynamic of the coming

third Democratic debate, with

all of the top contenders on

stage Thursday in Houston, as

a welcome change from the last

debate, when the lower-tier

candidates focused attacks on

the higher-polling candidates

on stage—Ms. Harris and for-

mer Vice President Joe Biden—

putting them on the defensive.

Ahead of the meeting Fri-

day, at least half a dozen top

donors to Ms. Harris’s cam-

paign told The Wall Street

Journal that they were looking

for her to pick up momentum

heading into the fall, when

more voters traditionally tune

in to the primary.

But some also said they

feared the Democratic primary

is increasingly becoming a

three-way race between Mr.

Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren

of Massachusetts and Sen.

Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Some of the donors said

they—and others they had

talked to—could shift some of

their support to Mr. Biden if

Ms. Harris’s poll numbers

didn’t start trending upward.

Already, there are about

100 donors who have given

$2,800—the maximum individ-

ual contribution per election—

to both Ms. Harris and Mr. Bi-

den, according to a Wall Street

Journal analysis of Federal

Election Commission filings.

Ms. Harris’s donors and

those close to her campaign

said they have been surprised

by the resiliency of Mr. Biden’s

support, especially among Af-

rican-American voters in South

Carolina, which they had seen

as a state she could carry.

A spokesman for Ms. Harris

didn’t respond to a request to

comment.

Some of her backers also

criticized the emphasis on na-

tional polls, which aren’t re-

flective of early-state standing.

“She remains stably and se-

curely in the top five,” said Sue

Dvorsky, an Iowa activist who

endorsed Ms. Harris last

month. “A lot of things are go-

ing to happen in the next six to

eight weeks, and within that

top tier, there’s a lot of fluidity.”

The Harris campaign is

ramping up its organization in

Iowa and South Carolina in

particular, and aides believe a

strong performance would give

her the needed momentum go-

ing into Super Tuesday, where

her delegate-rich home state of

California is up for grabs.

—Chad Day

contributed to this article.

Top advisers to Sen. Kamala
Harris made their case to ma-
jor donors behind closed doors
in two meetings in New York
on Friday, telling them they
were working on defining the
California Democrat with a
more refined core message.
In the first meeting with a
broader group, Ms. Harris’s sis-
ter and campaign chairwoman,
Maya Harris, along with media
consultant Jim Margolis, were
questioned by some donors on
the senator’s stagnant poll
numbers in the Democratic
presidential primary. The Har-
ris aides talked up Ms. Harris’s
key endorsements in early
states and appeal to young vot-
ers, people familiar with the
meetings said.

BYTARINIPARTI
ANDEMILYGLAZER

Harris’s Team Huddles to Plot the Path Forward

CLAREMONT, N.H.—Sen.

Bernie Sanders, of nearby Ver-

mont, won this state’s Demo-

cratic presidential primary in

2016 and is eager for a repeat

victory next year. But Sen.

Elizabeth Warren, of Massa-

chusetts, has zeroed in on the

same turf, setting up a battle

between the two liberal rivals

over their shared backyard.

The state’s first-in-the-na-

tion primary, and the efforts

here by Ms. Warren and Mr.

Sanders to win it, will get a

national spotlight this week-

end when the New Hampshire

Democratic Party hosts its

convention. Both senators will

attend, along with 17 other

contenders.

“It is very important for us

that we win here in New

Hampshire. Last time we did

really well. And with your

help, I am absolutely going to

win New Hampshire again,”

Mr. Sanders told voters during

a campaign event in Claremont

on Monday.

Mr. Sanders trounced his

2016 Democratic presidential

rival, Hillary Clinton, by 22

points in New Hampshire. His

campaign is banking on in-

roads made with voters during

that run to help lift him in a

more crowded primary this

time around.

But Ms. Warren’s rising

candidacy comes with some

built-in advantages in New

Hampshire that stand to com-

plicate Mr. Sanders attempt at

a repeat victory. Her cam-

paign, based in Boston, is close

to the more heavily populated

southern part of New Hamp-

shire. Her Senate runs in Mas-

sachusetts in 2012 and 2018

put her on the airwaves in that

part of the state. And her cam-

paign has hired more staffers

in the state than Mr. Sanders.

Carli Stevenson, Mr. Sand-

ers’s deputy state director in

New Hampshire, argued that

no state was a must win as

long as Mr. Sanders won

enough delegates to ultimately

become the nominee. “If we

don’t win [New Hampshire],

do I think that means we can’t

move forward? No, of course

not. I think ultimately it’s

about putting together the del-

egate math,” she said.

Iowa’s caucus is Feb. 3; New

Hampshire’s primary is Feb. 11,

the following week.

Public polling typically

shows former Vice President

Joe Biden with a lead in New

Hampshire, with Mr. Sanders

in second and Ms. Warren of-

ten in third, though no major

surveys of the state have been

released publicly since early

August. But a senior adviser to

Mr. Biden’s campaign tem-

pered expectations for the for-

mer vice president and ac-

knowledged that, historically,

candidates from New England

get a home-field advantage.

The last time two candi-

dates from Vermont and Mas-

sachusetts competed in the

Democratic primary was in

2004, when Massachusetts

Sen. John Kerry beat Vermont

Gov. Howard Dean, 39% to

26%.

—Ken Thomas and Chad Day

in Washington

contributed to this article.

BYELIZACOLLINS

ANDJOSHUAJAMERSON

Sanders,

Warren

Vie for

Key State

bills would eliminate the cur-

rent rule that no one country

receive more than 7% of all

employment-based green

cards. That would create a sin-

gle line for all green-card peti-

tioners, allowing people who

have waited the longest to go

to the front of the line, instead

of waiting in lines based on

their countries of origin.

Opponents complain this

will allow Indians and Chi-

nese—who now face the lon-

gest waits—to get higher pri-

ority, forcing those from other

countries further back.

“This is lifeboats on the Ti-

tanic. You can fight over who

gets which seats, or you can

get enough lifeboats, and what

we’ve got here is fighting over

the number of seats rather

than increasing the number of

lifeboats,” said Bruce Morri-

son, a former Democratic con-

gressman from Connecticut

who now lobbies for the AMA

and AMN Healthcare.

Mr. Lee tried to pass his

Senate bill by unanimous con-

sent in July, bypassing the

hearing and committee pro-

cess. Mr. Paul blocked it. Mr.

Paul’s bill, among other mea-

sures, would expand the num-

ber of green cards for employ-

ment-based immigrants to

270,000 from the current

140,000. Mr. Paul also has of-

fered an amendment to ensure

nurses aren’t adversely af-

fected.

Democrats in the Senate

have qualms, too.

"They are increasing the

immigration from countries

like India a marginal small

amount at the expense of cut-

ting back on immigration from

other countries in a much

more dramatic fashion—I

don’t think there’s equity in

that,” said Sen. Dick Durbin

(D., Ill.).

If a way forward is found, it

is also unclear whether Presi-

dent Trump would sign a bill.

The White House, which is

working on its own legal im-

migration overhaul, didn’t re-

spond to a request to com-

ment.

All that leaves the likes of

Mr. Indurkar in limbo. His

H-1B via is only temporary,

and it means he is dependent

on his employer to act as his

sponsor. He remains in Over-

land Park, Kan., in part be-

cause his young American-

born son needs special

education. He says the wait

“gets more painful with every

passing year.”

WASHINGTON—When In-
dian immigrant Jay Indurkar
applied for permanent U.S.
residency in 2011, he filled out
paperwork, passed background
checks, showed proof of a job
offer in Kansas and was ap-
proved for a green card in a
matter of weeks.
“I still remember that email
from my boss,” Mr. Indurkar
said. “I jumped out of my seat
with joy. And then I read the
last paragraph, and my world
fell apart.”
The last paragraph said
there was actually no green
card yet available for him, and
it provided no timetable for
getting him one. Eight years
later, the 41-year-old product-
development engineer is still
waiting—one of roughly one
million people stuck in a grow-
ing backlog for one of the
140,000 employment-based
green cards distributed each
year by the U.S. State Depart-
ment. The logjam stems from
U.S. rules that limit any one
country to 7% of all employ-
ment-based green cards. More
than 660,000 of those approved
but waiting are from India.
Much of the focus on the
nation’s stressed immigration
system has been on migrants
at the southern border and
Washington’s inability to craft
a fix. But the backlog among
those awaiting permanent res-
idency based on employer-
sponsored visas presents its
own political morass.
Republicans and Democrats
agree it is a problem. A bipar-
tisan bill that seeks to address
the backlog—the Fairness for
High-Skilled Immigrants Act—
passed the House in July, 365
to 65.
A similar piece of legisla-
tion has been introduced in
the Senate by Sen. Mike Lee
(R., Utah), who says his ver-
sion is designed to provide a
narrow fix, separate from any
comprehensive immigration
overhaul. “You don’t have to
eat the whole elephant in one
bite,” he said. But Mr. Lee
faces opposition within his
own party, especially from
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky,
who has introduced competing
legislation.
The two men are negotiat-
ing. But other senators have
raised their own concerns, and
even a patchwork solution ap-
pears unlikely anytime soon.
The issue pits industries
against each other as they

BYLINDSAYWISE

Green Cards Elude Bipartisan Fix

Senator’s advisers,

donors try to figure

out how she can move

up in the 2020 field.

Washington Wire is relaunch-
ing today, after its initial run
from 1940 to 2007. It will fea-
ture exclusive interviews, in-
sights and analysis spanning the
Journal’s coverage areas.

COULD IOWA AND NEW
HAMPSHIRE SWITCH SPOTS?
Iowa Democratic Party Chair-

man Troy Price is in New Hamp-

shire trying to negotiate an

agreement that might allow his

state to offer some form of ab-

sentee voting as part of the

presidential nominating cau-

cuses in February.

Mail-in balloting may be on

the table, but if Iowa’s caucuses

look too much like a primary,

New Hampshire may threaten

to jump ahead in the calendar.

New Hampshire’s Constitution

requires it to hold the first pres-

idential primary, so there often

is some tension with Iowa’s

prized first-contest status.

The Democratic National

Committee wants Iowa to allow

more people to participate in

the caucuses, but security con-

cerns have derailed a plan to

permit telephone voting. The

party’s Rules and Bylaws Com-

mittee discussed the situation

Friday afternoon.

ERIC HOLDER says the Obama

administration made mistakes in

its immigration policies, but Dem-

ocrats running for president

shouldn’t criticize President

Obama directly for them. “That

might result in some short-term

attention, but I think it does long-

term harm” to the eventual 2020

nominee, the former attorney

general told The Wall Street

Journal.

Disavowals by candidates

such as Cory Booker of the

Obama administration’s immi-

grant-deportation policies should

be put in the context of the

Trump administration’s actions.

“Mistakes happened,” which

were then corrected, unlike the

current administration’s ap-

proach, Holder said.

MIKE POMPEO returned to his

home state for a speech at Kan-

sas State University on Friday.

The Republican didn’t make any

announcement about a Senate

run there, but his presence in

Kansas keeps the will-he-won’t-

he buzz alive. He has until the

June filing deadline to decide.

Names floated as possible suc-

cessors as secretary of state in-

clude Stephen Biegun, President

Trump’s special envoy to North

Korea, and David Hale, a career

diplomat and the current under-

secretary of state for political af-

fairs, according to several people

familiar with the discussions.

TWO TOP LOBBYISTS await

the resolution of an investiga-

tion spun off from special coun-

sel Robert Mueller’s Russia

probe. Prosecutors have been

examining whether Republican

Vin Weber and Democrat Tony

Podesta violated lobbying disclo-

sure laws in 2012.

Their firms registered to lobby

for a Ukrainian nonprofit group,

though both lobbyists allegedly

were told the client actually was

the government of Ukraine. We-

ber’s lawyer denied that account,

and Podesta couldn’t be reached

to comment.

A related trial that wrapped

up this week shows that these

cases are far from straightfor-

ward. Greg Craig, another lawyer

who did work on the Ukraine

campaign, was acquitted

Wednesday on a false-state-

ments charge after a two-week

trial. After such a loss, prosecu-

tors may not have an appetite

for another prosecution related

to the Ukraine work.

RANSOMWARE is a big threat

to the 2020 elections, a top Na-

tional Security Agency official

says. The new leader of the spy

agency’s cybersecurity director-

ate, Anne Neuberger, warns

that hackers could lock up voter

registration databases or other

election systems and demand a

ransom in return for restoring

access to the files. Neuberger’s

new cybersecurity directorate

formally launches in October.

GUN OWNERS don’t uniformly

support the National Rifle Asso-

ciation, a recent WSJ/NBC News

poll finds. Among those with a

gun in the household, 58% have

a positive view of the NRA, while

25% view the gun lobby nega-

tively. Overall, the public is split

on the NRA: Four in 10 Ameri-

cans hold a positive view, and

the same share has a negative

view, down from 45% positive

and 33% negative in April 2017.

CANDIDATES ON THE BUBBLE

look to Latino congressional lead-

ers for a boost. Pete Buttigieg,

Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker and

Julián Castro will make their

case to the Congressional His-

panic Caucus Institute’s annual

conference on Monday, ahead of

a crucial debate. Showing up and

making allies is key, says Arizona

Rep. Ruben Gallego, the group’s

chairman. “It’s difficult to get

leadership support if you don’t

have relationships with commu-

nities across the country, or if

you don’t have a reputation for

leading on these issues,” he said.

MINOR MEMOS: Mike Pence

touts Irish bona fides in Dublin:

“I spent weeks cutting turf in

the peat bogs.”...Former Sen. Jeff

Flake donates to local Demo-

cratic sheriff in Arizona, citing

“County over Party.”...Cedar Rap-

ids, Iowa, store sells T-shirts

saying, “Hi, do you live here or

are you running for president?”

BYGABRIELT.RUBIN