'A force for good': George Bush steps into US migration debate in op-ed and book

Former US President George W Bush has stepped into the ongoing debate on immigration saying that migrants are “a force for good”. In a Washington Post op-ed, Bush advocated for immigrant rights calling for a gradual process that would allow undocumented immigrants to earn legal status in the country. Every year, America witnesses an influx of people, especially from Latin America and Asia, who travel millions of miles to fulfil their ‘American dream'.

The special Op-ed came as a preview to his new book "Out of Many, One: Portraits of America's Immigrants." As the name implies, the book features multiple portraits of immigrants done by Bush himself. While, the former leader reckoned that his paintings “may not set the art world stirring,” but he says that by sharing the portraits of immigrants, each with "a remarkable story," he hoped "to humanize the debate on immigration and reform."

In his book, Bush has drawn portraits of a range of migrants including an unknown young French man who became an American soldier and won the country's Medal of Honor to the much better-known stories of two migrants, Madeleine Albright and Henry Kissinger, who fled prewar Europe and rose to become US secretaries of state.

Citizenship Bill 2021

Bush's book comes amidst a revitalised effort by incumbent president Joe Biden to better the country's immigration policies. In February, the Biden administration introduced the US Citizenship Act of 2021 that is deemed to benefit thousands of Indian IT professionals in the US. This bill proposes to eliminate the per-country cap for employment-based green cards. The ones who are waiting for a Green Card for over a decade would receive legal permanent residency soon after they are exempted from the visa cap.

In the same month, the US received enough petitions needed to reach the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 H-1B visa cap for the fiscal year 2021. As per the process, authorities will now select the successful candidates for a work visa by a computerized draw of the total applicants. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people from across the world apply for the H-1B visa to live the ‘American dream. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. 

Image Credits: Associated Press