{"id":7168,"date":"2025-03-11T23:19:09","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T23:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/jordan-lays-out-timeline-for-tackling-high-skilled-tech-visas-immigration-overhaul-efforts\/"},"modified":"2025-03-11T23:19:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T23:19:09","slug":"jordan-lays-out-timeline-for-tackling-high-skilled-tech-visas-immigration-overhaul-efforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/jordan-lays-out-timeline-for-tackling-high-skilled-tech-visas-immigration-overhaul-efforts\/","title":{"rendered":"Jordan lays out timeline for tackling high-skilled tech visas, immigration overhaul efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan<\/a> has a strategy for how to give President Donald Trump\u2019s top ally, Elon Musk, the changes to high-skilled visa rules the tech billionaire so desperately wants<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In interviews this week, the Ohio Republican said he is eyeing his party\u2019s flagship immigration bill as the legislative vehicle for overhauling existing laws to increase the flow of immigrants into the United States with expertise in science, technology and engineering.<\/p>\n

But Jordan made clear he wouldn\u2019t be the driving force behind making those changes to so-called H-1B visas, which let tech companies hire foreign-born experts. The high-tech visas have support among some Republicans but far from the majority of GOP lawmakers.<\/p>\n

Rather, Jordan said, he would expect the H-1B overhaul to come up as one of any number of concessions Republicans might make to sway Democrats in the Senate, who will be needed to clear any legislation for the president\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we got to come back and pass [the bill] and send that to the Senate,\u201d Jordan explained, at which point both chambers could \u201cthen start that debate on what happens with various visa programs we have \u2014 whether it\u2019s the high-skilled one, whether it\u2019s [agricultural] workers, whether it\u2019s what happens to Dreamers.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that a House-Senate conference committee on that immigration bill would also allow the White House to \u201cweigh in\u201d on high-skilled immigration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s the best play for it all to work, and to have the full debate on everything that impacts immigration policy,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n

Still, Jordan\u2019s openness to allowing some sort of visa reform to come to fruition in a final immigration bill suggests that top House Republicans are now willing to negotiate with the tech lobby, Democrats and some Senate Republicans who see workforce benefits to allowing more specialists into the country.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also the first time Jordan has articulated his long-range vision for overhauling immigration policy, including in an arena that\u2019s important to Musk, with whom the committee chair enjoys a longtime rapport<\/a>. Musk has framed the push<\/a> for high-skilled immigrants as a top priority for the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Trump has backed Musk<\/a> in his fight with immigration restrictionists over increases to skilled visas or green card exemptions for high-tech workers. Jordan said Tuesday that he has yet to talk to Musk about high-skilled immigration, but \u201cI\u2019m sure we will.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lot has to happen before tackling the issue on Capitol Hill, however \u2014 notwithstanding that a new version of the Secure Our Borders Act, which passed the House in the last Congress and is commonly referred to as H.R. 2<\/a>, has yet to be reintroduced.<\/p>\n

First, Jordan said, congressional Republicans must pass broader legislation through the filibuster-skirting budget reconciliation process, which he sees as necessary for the GOP to enact broad swaths of Trump\u2019s domestic policy agenda \u2014 including beefed up border security enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a sequence to this,\u201d Jordan said, explaining his plans. The House Judiciary chair said it was necessary to \u201cdemonstrate to the country we\u2019ve fully secured the border, and then you can look at the visa issues in the context of H.R. 2.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan has a strategy for how to give President Donald Trump\u2019s top ally, Elon Musk, the changes to high-skilled visa rules the tech billionaire so desperately wants. In interviews this week, the Ohio Republican said he is eyeing his party\u2019s flagship immigration bill as the legislative vehicle for overhauling existing laws […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}