Senator Spencer Abraham said that in addition to the jobs that are unfilled today, 200,000 new jobs will be created in each of the next three years. If that's true, he pushed a bill that gives 195,000 of 200,000 new jobs to foreign workers. 

In Spring 2000, a major supporter of pending legislation which would increase the H-1B quota, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), had the gall to say, ``This is not a popular bill with the public. It's popular with the  CEOs...This is a very important issue for the high-tech executives who give the money.'' (National Journal, May 5, 2000 and New York Daily  News, May 3, 2000.) Rep. Davis is chair of the Republican  Congressional Campaign Committee...

Sen. Robert Bennett's Follow the Sheep theory

After the Senate vote on October 3, 2000 to increase the H-1B quota, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on October 4, 

"Once it's clear (the visa bill) is going to get through, everybody signs up so nobody can be in the position of being  accused of being against high tech,'' said Sen. Robert Bennett,  R-Utah, after the vote. ``There were, in fact, a whole lot of folks against it, but because they are tapping the high-tech community  for campaign contributions, they don't want to admit that in  public''...

ME CAVEMAN

Yet the cavemen who fear outsiders cry out against raising the H1-B limit to 200,000.

Jay Whitehead is the CEO of EmployeeService.com

Said Stahl in her introduction, "At a time when thousands of American programmers are having a tough time finding work, some of America's biggest companies are hiring cut-rate, foreign programmers to take their jobs."

Stahl inquired about foreign programmers being "the best and the brightest," and former Immigration and Naturalization Service official Demetrious Papademtetriou said, "These are basically run of the mill people with some skills."

Legal Rejection of U.S. Workers

When employers feel the need to legalize aliens, it may be due to a shortage of suitable U.S. workers, but even in a depressed economy, Employers who favor aliens have an arsenal of legal means to reject all U.S. workers who apply. 

Immigration Lawyer
Joel Stewart, Esq. 

BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION 
The H-1B program and its expansions have proven to be the worst possible scenario for U.S. workers. As employers voraciously consumed 115,000 visas by the end of June of this year, no regulations enforcing labor protections for both U.S. and foreign workers, either interim or final, have been promulgated by the Department of Labor (DOL). Not one U.S. worker has been afforded the minimal labor protections of the additional employer attestations imposed by The American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 because DOL has yet to publish regulations governing their implementation, in either interim or final form. Attention and resources are diverted from the true solutions to a shortage skills, training programs, better educational programs, fair recruitment and diligent enforcement of strong labor laws, to a sham debate for a phony solution to an alleged shortage that is perpetuated by the behavior of an industry.

Alan Greenspan

Tom Davis (R-Va.)

Large and small corporations have aggressively lobbied (read bribed) Congress for access to inexpensive immigrants since the 1980s. At first, it was for technical workers like myself through programs like the H-1B visa. Yet another proposal to expand the H-1B has just been introduced by Texas Senator Gramm. Every day, more and more middle - aged Americans are being displaced.  I have also learned first hand of the frustrations of being unable to pay for "ordinary" things like health care or a replacement for my 1983 car. On the other hand, I see many younger people (who appear to be non - native) driving shiny new trucks in my neighborhood.

Gene A. Nelson, Ph.D.
A BrainSaver in Dallas, Texas  2/6/00

Paul Donnelly 
IEEE-USA and an aide to the principal author of the Immigration Act of 1990, former Rep. Bruce Morrison (D-Conn) and contributer to the Immigration Reform Coalition

Computerworld 11/29/99

"Yet the regulations [H-1B] are a joke, neither protecting U.S. workers nor promoting skilled immigration. We have a system run by bureaucrats for the benefit of lawyers." Donnelly asked the question, "Why not use market forces instead?". An employer willing to make a legally binding statement that it isn't undercutting U.S. workers should be able to sponsor a new hire for a green card by simply making a substantial private-sector investment in educating and training U.S. workers ...   -- thus importing skilled immigrants and improving the U.S. workforce.

Paul Donnelly has an understanding of how bad H-1B is. His solution is to flood the market with "instant green cards" instead of H-1Bs.  Donnelly's   ideas will probably benefit the working conditions of these indentured slaves but will do nothing for the Americans that have been put out of work. ShameH1B is not impressed by this shell game. For more on the controversy see H-1B vs. Green Cards.
ShameH-1B

Dr. Norman Matloff  
Department of Computer Science
University of California at Davis
author of     "Debunking the Myth of a Desperate Software Labor Shortage"        

 There is indeed salary exploitation in many cases, but that is not the central issue. THE CENTRAL ISSUE IS AGE DISCRIMINATION. EVEN IF EMPLOYERS WERE TO GIVE FULL SALARY PARITY TO H-1BS, THEY STILL WOULD PREFER TO HIRE YOUNG H-1BS OVER OLDER U.S. CITIZENS AND PERMANENT RESIDENTS. Employers would still prefer hiring a 25-year-old H-1B to a 45-year-old American, even if they pay the 25-year-old H-1B the same as 25-year-old Americans.

Many [companies] really love having indentured servants [H-1Bs]. They don't just love the chance to exploit H-1Bs in terms of salary; EVEN MORE IMPORTANT THAN SALARY IS THE FREEDOM FROM FEAR THAT THE H-1B WILL SUDDENLY LEAVE FOR ANOTHER EMPLOYER, CAUSING A MAJOR DISRUPTION TO THE CURRRENT EMPLOYER'S PROJECT, AND MAYBE EVEN TAKING THE CURRENT EMPLOYER'S TRADE SECRETS TO ANOTHER COMPANY. Many people don't realize just how powerful an attraction this is to employers of H-1Bs.

ANY INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF FOREIGN-NATIONAL WORK VISAS WILL SIMPLY EXACERBATE THE AGE DISCRIMINATION PROBLEMS.

U.S. Department of Labor
Office of Inspector General Office of Audit
Final Report Report Number: 06-96-002-03-321
Date Issued: 1/24/97

The Department of Labor's Foreign Labor Certification Programs: The System Is Broken and Needs To Be Fixed

In our opinion, not all types of jobs being filled by H-1B aliens necessarily represent jobs that would enhance U.S. employers' abilities to compete in a global economy. While there is no requirement that there be a labor shortage in the occupation for which employers file LCAs, the H-1B program is being used to staff such positions as: accountants, piano instructors and accompanists, primary school teachers, physicians, and assistant professors and professors. While the aliens who filled these positions may have baccalaureate degrees, or equivalent, we question whether the jobs meet the full definition of specialty occupation.

Charles C. Masten
Inspector General
H-1B Labor Condition Application (LCA) program.

Audit findings in a recently issued OIG report found that both programs fail to adequately protect American jobs or wages, as intended by Congress. The audit discovered that the Department's role amounts to little more than a paper shuffle for the PLC program and a "rubber stamping" for LCA program applications.

The PLC program was established by Congress to exclude aliens from being granted legal status for employment when there are qualified, willing U.S. workers available for jobs. However, our audit found that 74 percent of the applicants were already working for a U.S. employer at the time of their application for labor certification. Moreover, 99 percent of the aliens with approved certifications were already in the U.S. at the time that the applications were made. The OIG also found that the labor market test, which is designed to ensure that there are no qualified U.S. workers available to fill the positions for which the application has been filed, is perfunctory at best. The LCA program was designed by Congress to provide American businesses with timely access to the "best and brightest" employees in the international labor market to meet urgent, but generally temporary, business needs while protecting U.S. workers' wage levels. Our audit found that 75 percent of the aliens worked for employers who failed to adequately document that the wages on the labor condition application were in fact the proper wages. In addition, out of those employees whose wages could be determined, 19 percent were being paid below the prevailing wages specially required by the program. Despite annual expenditures of approximately $50 million on DOL's foreign labor certification programs, the OIG found that DOL's role in the PLC and LCA programs did little to add value to the process of protecting U.S. workers' jobs and wages.

Everybody but the American public knows that the H-1B visa is replacing American workers.
ShameH1-B

Harris N. Miller
President Information Technology Association Of America

April 21, 1998 Before The  House Subcommittee On Immigration

Many Americans do not have the background, education or skills to qualify for these [IT] assignments.

So employers are forced to bid up the price of critical human resources, not only paying inflated salaries but also using signing bonuses and other cash inducements, life-style accommodations such as telecommuting and child care credits, and a rich menu of insurance, vacation, tuition reimbursement and related perks.

Miller erases any doubt that H-1B is being used to lower salaries. Miller is really bummed that the employers he represents might have to provide benefits like child care and vacation.
ShameH-1B

If you think that our government has any interest in protecting American workers, think again!!!

Gary Foster FOR Bill Belt
Excerpt from Letter from Regional Administrator
US Dept of Labor
Employment Standards Administration

There is nothing in the H-1B provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act which requires an employer to make any effort to hire domestic workers or United States citizens before they can be authorized to employee nonimmigrant aliens under the Act. The "protection" offered by Item 8(b) on Form ETA-9035, "Labor Condition Application for H-1B Nonimmigrant" is for "similarly employed" workers, not for individuals seeking employment".

Robert Reich
Secretary of Labor 1995

The H-1B program "has become a major means of circumventing the costs of paying skilled American workers or the costs of training them."

Robert Schaerfl
Director of US Employment Services (Feb 18, 1994)

".... the employer has no responsibility to determine if there are qualified US workers available before hiring an alien. The employer is required to attest on the LCA that the H-1b is being paid the higher of the actual establishment wage or the prevailing wage in the area....." "the employer must make certain documentation available for public examination by interested parties."

"Congress did not include a requirement for a labor market test, or a no-layoff provision, under the H-1B program. Unfortunately, without these two provisions in the statute, there is potential that this program could adversely affect job opportunities for U.S. workers employed or seeking employment, particularly those in highly skilled occupations."

Companies don't have to prove need to hire an H-1B or to give preference to American workers, contrary to popular opinion!!! The full text version of Schaerfl's letter is available in the Library.
ShameH-1B

11/27/00