immigration visas – Page 2

Hi Gang:

Here is my most recent posting for the CAPS website- it addresses that way that while corporations, banks and assorted other special interest groups are literally profiting from the massive influx of foreign workers, both legal and illegal, it is the average American who is picking up the tab and there is more than money at stake!

Think of all of those who salivate at the prospect of bringing in ever more foreign workers to do the work Americans used to do:

Immigration lawyers, banks, employers for whom the bottom line is the bottom line and so-called advocacy groups such as “immigrant rights organizations” who know damned well that foreign workers are being horribly exploited but don’t care!

Today many labor unions also are thrilled to enroll illegal aliens to gain their dues and to fatten their membership lists to gain political clout. These unions know that when large numbers of workers are dumped onto the labor market, wages decline, this is classic economics and goes back to the issue of supply and demand, but their only demand is for more money and more political clout!

Finally we come to the politicians on both sides of the aisle who only care about campaign contributions and votes!

We are truly getting the best government money can buy!

Thus far the GOP Presidential debates have treated immigration as a separate issue that is somehow isolated from the many challenges our nation faces today. The candidates are asked about the economy, the high unemployment rate and national security and then they are asked about immigration as though immigration has nothing to do with these other issues!

The candidates all claim to have created more jobs than their opponents but, thus far, not one candidate has had the integrity to talk about the need to liberate jobs!

If millions of illegal aliens who are working in our country were removed from the workplace, American and lawful immigrant workers could take those millions of jobs. Yet the administration continues to issue policy decisions to prevent illegal aliens from being deported (removed) and, in fact, has not taken to the unbelievable tactic of providing hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens with employment authorization where they can now, under the color of law, compete with unemployed Americans for jobs!

It is absolutely unfathomable that not a single Republican candidate has raised this issue thus far and I want to know WHY!

Why would the candidates from the Republican Party not hammer what should be a “no brainer?”

The point is that it is hard to believe that these candidates don’t understand the issues. If they truly don’t understand this, then they should not be running for the highest elected position in this country and, arguably, the most powerful elected position on this planet.

If they do understand the issues and are intentionally ignoring the truth of the situation, then they will likely continue to betray the citizens of our nation if they are elected, betraying the oath of office and betraying the citizens they are supposed to look out for!

The consequence of this massive on-going betrayal is that foreign workers are displacing millions of American workers at a time when more and more Americans are finding the “American Dream” to be little more than a dream!

Huge numbers of homes have been lost to foreclosure and not because the owners of those home bought into homes that they could not afford, it is that they have lost their jobs and although were once solid members of the Middle Class are now unemployed. These hard working Americans did nothing wrong- it is just that their employers have found a way of paying less for labor- hiring foreign workers to do the jobs that had previously been done by American workers.

Recently ABC News posted a very upsetting news report about how pervasive hunger is today, here in America, among American children. This important piece of journalism was entitled:

“Shocking Need: American Kids Go Hungry”

Here is a link to the video of this heart-breaking report that every American must see:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/hunger-home-american-children-malnourished/story?id=14367230&nwltr=WN_topstory_hed

Among the facts noted in this report was the fact that one in six American adults and one in four American children is “food insecure.” Food insecure means that when they wake up each morning they don’t know if they will have three meals to eat that day!

Foreign workers, as I note in my commentary below, are not just the illegal aliens who do the unskilled work, but also include so-called high tech workers who have been displaced by foreign workers who have been granted nonimmigrant worker visas such as the H-1B visas issued to the highly skilled such as computer programmers.

The American Dream used to be exemplified by the American who acquired a solid education and through that education achieved success. Education was the pathway to success in America. Today a roadblock has been erected along that pathway and that roadblock is imported cheap labor!

Abuses in the H-1B visa program are legendary and well documented in a series of GAO reports. As I noted in previous commentaries, you should take out a couple of minutes to watch a video that I guarantee you will really infuriate you. It is the video of an immigration lawyers’ conference in which lawyers were being coached to “not find qualified U.S. workers!” The lecturer who is instructing the attorneys is a guy by the name of Lawrence M. Lebowitz, the Vice President of Marketing for the firm of Cohen & Grigsby. This video was posted on You Tube by the Programmer Guild, an organization that is comprised of computer programmers.

This video runs for roughly 4 minutes and 30 seconds and I urge you to watch this video that was, I believe, made clandestinely. This is the link to that video:

[youtube TCbFEgFajGU]

I want you to now consider that the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is that all-inclusive body of laws that regulates the entry of aliens into the United States and also their presence in the United States. It deals with immigration benefits and the grounds under which an alien might be removed (deported) from the United States.

Under the INA, the law…”

“…excludes aliens seeking to immigrate “for the purpose of performing skilled or unskilled labor,” except that such aliens may be eligible for a visa if:

the Secretary of Labor has determined that (A) there are not sufficient United States workers who are able, willing, qualified and available at the time of application for a visa and admission into the United States and at the place where the alien is to perform the work, and (B) the employment of the alien will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of the United States workers similarly employed.”

Unbelievably, on April 30, 2009, Senator Chuck Schumer, the senior senator from New York, conducted a hearing before the Senate Immigration Subcommittee that he chairs, in which he called for none other than Alan Greenspan, arguably the architect of the economic meltdown to testify about Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Greenspan actually made the following statement:

The second bonus 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 noncompetitively high levels by immigration quotas on skilled professionals. Eliminating such restrictions would reduce at least some of our income inequality.

His use of language was apparently intended to be as obfuscating as possible but here is the bottom line- if Americans had to compete with foreign workers for their jobs, the salaries that skilled workers were paid could be slashed! This is absolutely the sort of thing that the immigration and labor laws are supposed to prevent!

Do not take my word for it, take Mr. Geenspan’s words for it!

You can review the testimony at that hearing and even see a portion of a video of Mr. Greenspan’s testimony at:

http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=3793

Time and time again the point is made, especially by the open borders advocates whom I have come to refer to as the “Immigration Anarchists,” that we are a “Nation of immigrants” and that the “Immigrants built this country.”

What truly distinguished the United States from every other country in the history of this planet is the large and upwardly mobile Middle Class.

Go back and read what Mr. Greenspan is recommending- he is recommending that America’s Middle Class be put on display in the Exhibit Hall of American Museum of Natural History of New York or the Field Museum in Chicago- next to the dinosaur exhibit!

What he calls for would result in the extinction of our nation’s Middle Class!

This is intolerable!

It is time that We the People sent the politicians to the unemployment line when they fail to take the best interests of the American worker into account when they make their decisions! Perhaps there should be legislation to prohibit politicians in Washington from becoming high paid lobbyists when they are either voted out of office or retire from their elected positions. Of course it is not likely that these folks will voluntarily give up access to that financially rewarding “gravy train” but the point is that the citizens of our nation have come to understand the simple fact that they and their families are not being represented but are, in fact, being betrayed!

The time has come to rename the House of Representatives. It is generally known as the “People’s House.” No one really believes that it still deserves that moniker, so I propose that henceforth it be referred to by a more honest and fitting name, I suggest it be referred to as the “House of Corporate Interests!”

The securing of our nation’s borders and the establishment of an immigration system that has real integrity are not a “Liberal” issues nor are they “Conservative” issues- these are American issues!

Yet neither party is willing to do what is essential for the security of our nation and the well being of our citizens!

The journalists and the politicians must hear from us!

Please give some thought to the First Amendment of the Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The late, great radio talk show host and friend, Terry Anderson, was famous for his rant, “If you ain’t mad, you ain’t paying attention!”

In considering the First Amendment, I suspect the Founding Fathers might have come up with a slightly different memorable quote, “If you don’t have grievances, you ain’t paying attention!”

We must make our voices heard- and the sooner the better!

A country without secure borders can no more stand than can a house without walls!

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our country is to survive and if our children and their children are to get their share of the “American Dream” the citizens of this nation must take their citizenship seriously!

We the People must be the best citizens we can be, citizens who are worthy of the gallantry demonstrated by our valiant men and women in the military, law enforcement and firefighters, who routinely go in harm’s way in defense of this nation and our citizens.

My goal in writing this and other commentaries is to point out our nations many failings before more victims pay the ultimate price for the incompetence and ineptitude of our government.

The first step in problem-solving is to first identify the problems and vulnerabilities and then devise strategies to overcome them.

If you find yourself to be in agreement with this commentary, I ask that you forward it to as many of your friends and family members as possible and encourage them to do the same. We need to create a “Bucket Brigade of Truth!”

The practice of good citizenship does not end in the voting booth, it only begins there.

The large scale apathy demonstrated by citizens of this nation has emboldened elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the average American citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the promises of votes to be ostensibly delivered by special interest groups. There is much that we cannot do but there is one thing that We the People absolutely must do- we must stop sitting on the sidelines!

The collective failure of We the People to get involved in make our concerns known to our politicians have nearly made the concerns of the great majority of the citizens of this nation all but irrelevant to the politicians. I implore you to get involved!

I believe our nation’s is greatly benefited by the rich diversity of our people which is why I could never imagine living anywhere except New York City, arguably the most diverse city in our nation if not, in fact, the world. However, my idea of diversity most certainly does not include members of MS-13, the Mexican drug cartels or members of other transnational gangs or members of al-Qaeda!

If our government’s failures to secure our nation’s borders and effectively enforce 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/

http://www.caps-blog.org/articles/2011/09/21/america-cannot-afford-the-high-cost-of-cheap-labor/

By Michael Cutler, Senior Special Agent, INS (Ret.), CAPS Senior Fellow, September 21, 2011 (1 hour ago)

There is a famous saying, “There is no such thing as a free lunch!”

The point is that nothing is truly free- when someone else eats for free, someone else has to pay the bill.

Corporations understandably want to reduce operating costs to increase profits. The problem is that unscrupulous employers will do anything and everything to reduce their operating costs. Before the labor movement, child labor was common and factories and other worksites were filthy and unsafe places to work.

Today companies that want to lower operating costs and avoid various regulations and requirements will often move their manufacturing plants to China and other countries where they face far fewer regulations and workers who are willing to work for lower wages with far fewer benefits.

Alternatively, those companies that decide to maintain facilities in the United States but still want to reduce labor costs and avoid many of the various environmental, safety and labor standards, will resort to hiring foreign workers. At the lower end of the labor market, such unscrupulous employers seek to hire illegal aliens who are coerced into settling for substandard wages under substandard conditions and are not likely to complain about dangers created by their employers who blatantly ignore health, safety and environmental regulations and standards.

Our nation pays in many ways for these hiring practices including the fact that foreign workers employed in the United States send tens of billions of dollars in remittances to their families in their home countries. These are wages that are not earned by American workers and the money is not spent or invested in the United States.

At the upper end, companies seek to employ foreign workers through the use of H-1B and other “temporary” work visas. The problem for employers who seek to hire high tech workers is that often there is no shortage of amply qualified American or lawful immigrant professionals who would gladly take those jobs, so these employers work with law firms that have developed strategies to be legal “artful dodgers.” The employer is thus able to hire workers for greatly reduced wages and few if any fringe benefits and the lawyers are paid their fees.

However, as I said at the outset, there is no such thing as a free lunch. The first group to pick up the tab is the displaced American workers who are unemployed or underemployed and are drowning in debt.

An even bigger group of people who are getting stuck with the tab are the citizens of our nation. There are a few reports that you need to take time to review.

First of all, I ask that you consider the frustrating news article that appeared in “The Hill” on September 9, 2011 and was entitled: “Senators press IRS for answers on tax credits, unauthorized workers”

The Inspector General of the Internal Revenue Service issued a report that prompted the response by those senators noted above and was entitled: TIGTA Report: Unauthorized Workers Received $4.2 Billion in Refundable Tax Credits Last Year

The summary of that reports begins as follows:

WASHINGTON – Individuals who are not authorized to work in the United States received billions of dollars from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) last year in a refundable tax credit based on earned income called the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), according to a new study released today.

The study, conducted by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), found that claims for this credit by these individuals have escalated sharply from $924 million in 2005 to $4.2 billion in 2010.

This is a luncheon tab of such proportions that it should give every struggling American family a serious case of indigestion!

Next I ask you to consider that another report, this one issued by the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration on September 7. 2011 contained more infuriating news. It reported on how thousands of aliens who had been admitted into the United States, under the aegis of the H-1B Visa Program, purportedly to do high tech jobs apparently were not employed by the employers who had filed for their visas.

This report was entitled: H-1B Workers’ Use of Social Security Numbers (A-08-11-11114)

Here is an excerpt from the report that sums up the problem:

“Based on the results of our review, we estimate about 7,131 (18 percent) of the 38,546 H-1B workers to whom SSA assigned an SSN in 2007 may have used their SSNs for purposes other than to work for their approved employer. This estimate includes about 4,433 (11 percent) H-1B workers who had posted wages during our audit period from an employer other than their DHS-approved employer. This estimate also includes about 2,698 (7 percent) H-1B workers who had no posted wages from 2007 through 2009.

“To enhance SSN integrity, we believe SSA should contact DHS to offer to establish a data match agreement to assist DHS’ efforts to identify and reduce the number of H-1B workers who may use their SSNs for purposes other than to work for their approved employer.”

There is no integrity to the immigration system and no integrity to the process by which visas are issued to aliens. In addition to the obvious national security implications these failings have to our nation, our nation and our citizens are paying a huge economic price where jobs, our nation’s burgeoning deficit and other such issues are concerned.

Aliens who are admitted under the aegis of a work visa program who fail to work at the jobs for which they were admitted into the United States are illegally present. Back when I was an INS Special Agent, such aliens would have been routinely arrested and deported from the United States.

Today, any alien who can make his (her) way into the interior of the United States is all but guaranteed to be not only not arrested but to be likely granted employment authorization!

In essence, the President and the leadership at DHS have, in making it clear that illegal aliens will not be arrested for simply violating our nation’s borders and immigration laws have, in a very real sense, fired the starter’s pistol. As a consequence it must be expected that aliens from around the world who aspire to come to the United States for all sorts of purposes ranging from seeking illegal employment to goals that involved far more nefarious objectives, have heard the “shot heard ’round the world” are off and running and heading to the United States! To them our borders are the “finish line!”

You must consider these issues when you hear the candidates for public office, especially the Presidency, declare how they would create new jobs. The real issue is who will liberate jobs being held by aliens whose presence in our country represents a violation of our laws- laws that for far too long have been ignored by politicians from both sides of the political aisle.

America and Americans can no longer afford what has, for decades, passed for “business as usual!”

Tag: immigration visas

"America Cannot Afford The High Cost of Cheap Labor"