> It is beyond me why such law exists in first place. People from Mexico can jump over the fence come to US and work while the president goes out of his way to

> It is beyond me why such law exists in first place. People from Mexico can jump over the fence come to US and work while the president goes out of his way to ensure that these people can get US taxpayer's money but my wife who is engineering graduate with over 8 years of experience working for American companies in India can not work in US because it takes away jobs of American people! You just answered your own question. The people "jumping the fence" (as you put it) are often taking low-paying (even below minimum wage) jobs that US citizens don't want, so it's less problematic politically[0]. On the other hand, there are a lot of citizens who would love whatever job your wife would get with 8 years of engineering experience, so it's more politically challenging to give that job to a non-citizen, even if she is undeniably qualified for it. [0] In fact, some industries rely on illegal immigrants and/or illegal migrant workers as sources of labor below minimum wage (see: agriculture[1]), so they have an incentive to enable this practice (or at least turn a blind eye), since they can't rely on the legal resources to provide them labor at that price. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefer_Madness_%282003_book%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefer_Madness_%282003_book%29 (Don't be fooled by the title - the chapter I'm referring to is about production of strawberries).