Ron Hira, a public policy professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology who has worked on these issues for more than a decade, said on the conference call that the H-1B visas that are filling the supposed “gaps” are “doing more harm than good” to the U.S. science and engineering workforce.
He noted that the majority of the H-1B visas are being used for “cheaper workers” from abroad and mentioned that offshoring firms used 50% of the cap last year to further their business model of bringing in “lower-cost H-1B workers to replace American workers.” Salzman said that even after American software engineers train their replacements, they cannot speak out about their experiences for fear of being blackballed or having to forfeit their severance payments.
Hira said that the H-1B program has run amok because “Congress sets the wage floors way too low” and “far below the market wages for American workers” while not placing any “requirement to look for or recruit American workers first, so there is no displacement of American workers.”
“As a result, you are basically inducing companies to game the system to bring foreign workers to undercut American workers,” Hira noted. “Instead of complimenting the U.S. workers as it should, it’s substituting for the U.S. workforce and taking away future opportunities by shifting the work overseas.”
He also mentioned that IT guest workers are on pace to make up 30-40% of the entire IT workforce even when there are 50% more graduates than job openings in the STEM fields.
Further, Matloff emphasized that H1-B visa holders earn 5-10% less on average than American workers and there is a high churn rate that gives companies a “never-ending supply of new hires,” allowing them to replace workers over the age of 35 while weakening the “bargaining position of current workers.” The Senate bill, Matloff said, exacerbates this problem by providing 150% of the visas that the IT industry has said they needed at the beginning of the debate.
“You are replacing more innovative people with less innovative people, which also will amount to a net loss for the U.S. economy,” Matloff said, saying, for instance, that there are fewer patents per capita produced by those from abroad than those in America.”
As a result, fewer Americans are able to move up the economic ladder through the high-tech fields. And the problem has gotten worse since the H-1B spigots were opened in the 1990s.
Additionally, you may wish to check out some of my previous articles that have been published in “The Social Contract.”
“American Dream Being Sold at Auction – America’s Middle Class to Be Put on Endangered Species List”
Immigration — The Modern Day “Gold Rush”
In that article I explored the many industries businesses that profit tremendously by the influx of foreign workers who are increasingly displacing American workers and driving down the wages of workers in a wide array of industries.
“ Rather Reports: No thanks for everything”
On May 15, 2007 a four minute infuriating video was aired on “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on CNN. It features an immigration lawyers’ conference in which lawyers were being coached to “not find qualified U.S. workers!” The lecturer is identified in the video as being Lawrence M. Lebowitz, the Vice President of Marketing for the firm of Cohen & Grigsby.
On October 20, 2012 CAPS (Californians for Population Stabilization) posted my commentary:
“Leveling the Playing Field for American Workers”
Comprehensive Immigration Reform would provide for a huge increase in foreign high tech workers and would no longer protect American workers from unfair foreign competition. This is precisely what Alan Greenspan called for when he testified before a 2009 hearing on the topic:
That hearing was conducted by the U.S. Senate’s Subcommittee on Immigration, chaired by the chief advocate for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Senator Chuck Schumer.
During his prepared testimony Greenspan stated, in part:
“…The second bonus (in accelerating the influx of skilled immigrant workers) would address the increasing concentration of income in this country. Greatly expanding our quotas for the highly skilled would lower wage premiums of skilled over lesser skilled. Skill shortages in America exist because we are shielding our skilled labor force from world competition. Quotas have been substituted for the wage pricing mechanism. In the process, we have created a privileged elite whose incomes are being supported at non-competitively high levels by immigration quotas on skilled professionals. Eliminating such restrictions would reduce at least some of our income inequality.”
The importance of our borders and our immigration laws cannot be overemphasized. In the war on terror and transnational gangs, they are our first line of defense and our last line of defense against international terrorists and transnational criminals. They are equally important to American workers who are facing unfair competition from foreign workers, aided and abetted by the administration and advocates for “Sanctuary Cities” and Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
The starting point for any conversation or legislation concerning immigration must be the findings and recommendations of the 9/11 Commission which determined that a lack of border security, including the visa process. and fraud in the immigration benefits program enabled terrorists to enter and embed themselves in the United States, as they went about their deadly preparations.
In his historic speech before the 3rd Army on May 31, 1944, General George S. Patton said, on the strategy of holding a position:
“We’re not holding anything, we’ll let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly, and we’re not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy.”
Pushing back against Comprehensive Immigration Reform is the same as holding position. The time has come for us to advance by demanding that our borders be made truly secure and our immigration laws be effectively administered and enforced.
Comprehensive Immigration Reform violates all of the findings and recommendations of the 9/11 Commission but no one is willing to even consider how the lack of real border security and the lack of real integrity to the various components of the immigration system imperil national security and public safety.
Immigration is not a single issue but a singular issue that impacts nearly every challenge and threat confronting the United States today! Simply stated, the immigration laws were enacted to save lives and protect the jobs of American workers.
It is not “Anti-Immigrant” to be “Pro-American!”
Our armed forces are charged with securing America’s borders externally while the DHS is supposed to secure those same borders from within. The failures of the DHS to live up to its half of the equation are undermining the efforts, valor and incredible sacrifices of Americas men and women who serve in our military!
If our government’s failures to protect American jobs by securing our nation’s borders and effectively enforcing our immigration laws concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation!
All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!
We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.
This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!
You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
-michael cutler-
Please check out my website:
https://www.michaelcutler.net/
On Friday evenings from 7:00 PM until 8:00 PM Eastern Time, I host my show, “The Michael Cutler Hour” on the USA Talk Radio Network on Blog Talk Radio.
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