There was an extraordinary exchange Monday evening on a Google+ “Hangout” between President Obama and a woman whose husband is an unemployed semiconductor engineer. She asked the President why H-1B visas are still being issued when there are many Americans like her husband –struggling to find permanent employment in the tech industry. President Obama’s answer perfectly illustrates why, to borrow one of his favorite terms, “our immigration system is broken.”
The President answers that “what industry tells me” is that there is a lack of skilled workers in the U.S., which is a little like saying, “the foxes tell me the henhouse is secure.” The reality is that the tech industry is bringing in tens of thousands of new long-term foreign guest workers every year (there are about 650,000 H-1B workers in the United States right now), who are displacing highly-skilled Americans. So instead of directing the government agencies responsible for administering the H-1B program to ensure that American workers are not adversely affected, the President is taking the word of the employers who are using H-1B workers to drive down wages and put Americans out of work. He finds the unemployed American engineer’s situation “interesting” and wants to find out what is happening.
But there is an even more telling statement made by President Obama that demonstrates a breathtaking ignorance of how the H-1B program operates. He believes it should only be used for companies who say they can not find qualified American workers. But employers are not required to do any such thing. The federal government allows employers to bring in H-1B guest workers even though there is an overabundance of skilled American workers available. Only “H-1B dependent” employers (more than 15% of their workforce) have to “attest” that they “attempted” to recruit a U.S. worker, and these attestations are virtually rubber stamped by the Department of Labor. Between 2000 and 2009, an astounding 94% of all H-1B applications were approved. When the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency (USCIS) examined a random sample of H-1B applications in 2008, it found that 21% contained violations, including 13% that were fraudulent. Obviously the federal government is not really concerned about whether or not the industry’s claims are true.
In 2007, then Senator Obama said this: “The intent is that H-1B visas only be issued if qualified American workers are unable to take the jobs in question….I fully agree that H-1B hires should be a last recourse as a matter of labor policy.” If that is his position then he now has the power to make sure that this becomes a matter of policy. The President says he wants to follow up on this issue. We will take him at his word and recommend he begins by reading FAIR’s report on the subject. He should also talk to Sens. Durbin and Grassley, who understand that the “H-1B visa program is plagued with fraud and abuse and is a vehicle for outsourcing American jobs.” They have drafted legislation that would require employers to actually demonstrate a need for foreign workers, and would close the loophole that allows employers to pay foreign workers below prevailing industry wage rates.
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There is a company name Fryfoods in Weiser Idaho that loves to hire not only guest visas but also plain ilegals.
my 24 year olds newphews work there, and both are US citizents. Thay have never ever experienced before so much
descrimination, verbal abuse and even physical abuse due to their legal status! their superevisors are Mexican nationals without green cards. These guys even mocked about how no one cant touch them, ooh by the way an ICE agent from Weiser, Idaho is the snitch that contacts a relative from this company to inform them in advane before a raid. I’m an American with mexican background, but I would never suppport the illegals, most of them are abusers of the system and their own. I want to relocate to Weiser Idaho and become an activist against these illegal hiring at this company and pressure the local authorities to enforce the laws.
MORE STEALTH AMNESTY!
OBAMA’S I.C.E. IS ONE MORE AGENCY TO EXPAND HIS LA RAZA PARTY BASE OF ILLEGALS!
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2012/02/stealth-amnesty-obamas-hispanicazation.html
WHAT IS THERE TO SAY ABOUT AN AMERICAN PRESIDENT THAT HAS CONTEMPT FOR OUR BORDERS AND EVEN SABOTAGES THEM TO BUILD HIS LA RAZA PARTY BASE OF ILLEGALS, HAS CONTEMPT FOR OUR SOVEREIGNTY LAWS, SABOTAGES E-VERIFY TO ASSURE ILLEGALS GET OUR JOBS, FIGHTS AGAINST VOTER I.D. TO ASSURE ILLEGALS EASY ACCESS (again) TO OUR VOTING, AND SUES FOUR AMERICAN STATES ON BEHALF OF HIS LA RAZA AGENDA?????
NO ADMINISTRATION IN HISTORY IS AS INFESTED WITH A FOREIGN POLITICAL PARTY AS OBAMA’S IS WITH LA RAZA SUPREMACIST PARTY!
NO PRESIDENT HAS HANDED SO MUCH TAX PAYER FUNDING TO A FOREIGN PARTY AS OBAMA HAS IN FUNDING THE MEXICAN FASCIST PARTY of LA RAZA!
The Obama administration’s campaign to suspend the deportations of most illegal aliens has been subject to intense scrutiny since 2010, when the press uncovered a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services memo that contemplated various “administrative alternatives” to bypass Congress and implement stealth amnesty for illegal aliens. A subsequent Houston Chronicle story exposed an effort by the administration to suspend the deportations of illegal aliens who supposedly have not been convicted of any “serious” crimes.
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OBAMA’S GLOBALIZATION TO KEEP WAGES DEPRESSED FOR HIS WALL ST PAYMASTERS:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2012/02/obamas-open-borders-agenda-to-keep.html
AMERICA – THE NEW 3rd WORLD DUMPSTER = POSTED: NO LEGAL NEED APPLY!
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2012/02/united-states-new-third-world-dumpster.html
WE HAVE NOW LET IN 38 MILLION ILLEGALS INTO OUR NATION AND JOBS. IN MEX INFESTED LOS ANGELES, VIRTUALLY ALL JOBS GO TO ILLEGAL USING STOLEN SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS. THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES PUTS OUT $600 MILLION PER YEAR IN WELFARE TO ILLEGALS, PRIMARILY ANCHOR BABY BREEDERS. THESE CHILDREN BORN IN OUR BORDERS WILL STILL ALSO BE MEXICANS!
Our major & minor universities and colleges ARE NOT helping our graduating high school students.
At your local high school university & college days–heir recruiters are emphasizing degrees in POLITICAL SCIENCE–yes, the major universities, colleges are visiting your local high schools to discuss degrees in ‘political science’–NOT TECHNOLOGY (Information Technology and Computer Science)–and NOT ‘BUSINESS’ degrees–Accounting, etc.
You would think that colleges and universities would make sure that they KNOW the kinds of degrees that are in demand at American companies. They don’t have a clue.
This article just goes to show how two faced Obama is. He has had three years to solve this problem and yet he has done nothing. I too am a displaced worker in the electronics field, having lost my job four times in the last 20 years to overseas deportation of American jobs. Yet the government has continually refused to stop the exportation of Americas future and they actually pay companies to remove job from this country through subsidies and tax breaks. Obama promised to fix this and many other issues in 2008 yet to date he has only perpetuated the problem and lied to the people about what he has done. His actions have proven to speak louder than his words. The borders are still wide open to the drug cartels, illegal immigration is still running rampant, true unemployment is still over 10% and the number of people in poverty has gone up almost double in the last three years. These are the things Obama has accomplished. So how is that HOPE and CHANGE working out for you America ?
The people running for office get millions of dollars from Corporate America and that is where their alliances are. American citizens are not on their agenda. It’s all about power and money. We the people have only our votes and that is at jeopardy when the ACLU and other special interest groups fight ID registration. When I first voted we had to show photo ID and our voting card. Why then do these people want to have fraud at the voting booth. If you think that the poor won’t have picture ID then issue photo voting card. Voting is a privilege after all!
I have been writing my Congress and Senators about this topic for years now! I have worked in the IT industry for many years. A few years ago, there was a campaign circulating that stated that East Indians were the IT experts in the USA. What people did not pay attention to was who actually began the campaign. You may want to research the corporations of Wipro or Infosys yourself to understand the totality of this marketing exercise.
About 10 years ago, the East Indians working in the USA were solid and became a part of our work force. They assimilated with the existing team. In the last 7 years, the East Indian knowledge level has diminished considerably. One of five HI-B visa workers is very competent, however, he / she carries the other four.
The northern East Indians do not socialize well with the southern East Indians; this is apparent by just walking through the lunch room.
I have done international implementation throughout the globe. I adapt to and respect the culture of the Country where I am working. East Indians do not seem to adapt well to the American culture. I don’t entirely understand this since many other Asian cultures assimilate quite well with our culture in the work place. I have even had “responsibilities” reassigned to an East Indian because he was having “visa issues and need to be in the critical path”. (Stated by a Director in the corporation)
I am relieved that this topic is no longer taboo!
AND here’s the mantra:
“The goal is NOT to Find and American worker!”
http://www.youtube.com/programmersguild
And there is now even protest songs!!!
http://www.complex-numbers.com/home/dog-one.html
Lap of Luxury (The H-1B Song) http://www.complex-numbers.com/home/dog-one.html
LYRICS: http://www.complex-numbers.com/home/laplux.html
HERE’S WHAT ROMNEY SAYS ABOUT ILLEGALS:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2012/02/romney-vs-mormon-church-vs-la-raza.html
I work for a software company and see all the time how many foreign IT folks are working in Insurance companies while very capable talent is let go in favor of these contractors!! Criminal. On the other hand there are lots of folks that have absolutely opted out of the workforce because this administration makes it attractive to do so with all the handouts and subsidies. All wrong.
illegal immigration has to stop immediately.
political pandering is keeping the united states from securing our borders now.
This article is about LEGAL immigration abuses.
He is just saying this because it is an election year and acting concerned. He knows exactly what is going on. We’re in the middle of an economic race war presidency. This is all about the economic war on America. The far left rags will keep telling Americans that the unemployment is going down so obama can be elected again to continue destroying this country and putting more and more Americans out of work and giving more and more aid and money to the Muslims.
Motivated hit the nail on the head. Just as with illegal immigration, legal immigrants are permitted these jobs because they wil work for much less. Not too mention that Obama is not ignorant. He is a very inteeligent and educated man and knows exactly what’s going on. He nor most members of the U.S. legislature could care less about anyone but themselves.
Just keep voting for the establishment candidates Americans and you get what you deserve. The only honest R or D running is Ron Paul. In most election years you have to vote Independent to get an honest candidate. Stop voting with “the lesser of two evils” mentality. The establishment wants you to believe that if you vote for an honest candidate (usually little or no funding), you are wasting your vote. Guess what, if you vote for an “establishment” candidate, I GUARANTEE you have wasted your vote.
Wake up Americans!!! This is coming from a former, 3 time Independent candidate.
While I appreciate the reasons for the H1-B program, please consider the situation of another group of people who are allowed to come to America to work. In our case, the opposite of the quoted ‘rubber stamp’ of approval applies.
I am one of 100,000 aliens allowed into America under the E-2 program. Not only do we have to prove we have the skills of a trade but we have to be self capitalised ($40B total) and employ Americans. The process very detailed and lengthyand it has to be repeated in some cases every year. This status means it is more involved for a driving license, business license and even getting business insurance or a mortgage.
Here’s the irony. If we needed help that was not available locally and we followed the correct procedures, we could bring in a foreign employee who would then be able to earn permanent status in America. However we will never be able to get in line.Never! Please refer tol E-2 Reform. org.
While operating a business out of the US, we could have been allowed to work and stay here to run a branch location However by bringing all we have, no such luck, although we have been here since 1995.
So while we hear of and watch all the abuses to the immigration system. people like us who follow all the rules just keep following them.
Anybody listening? .
.
Hello FAIR,
You may have seen the report just released that claims the Alabama crackdown on illegal immigration will cost about $11 billion. I haven’t had the chance to analyze it yet, but it seems this is absurd propaganda/biased sloppy “research” meant to scare states from enforcing immigration laws.
Please review this report and respond appropriately. Thanks!
I’d like to add another thought about what Motivated has stated here: Too bad! I’m sure this amount is ridiculously inflated, but it has to be done because it’s LAW ENFORCEMENT! I’m sure the enforcement and prosecution of murderers costs quite a bit every year, but we’re not going to stop doing this because it costs too much. Make the companies that are knowingly hiring illegal aliens foot the bill for it, then they’ll stop doing it and give the jobs to American citizens like they’re supposed to be doing.
I would not be surprised to learn that the call screener that let the question regarding the harms of the H-1B Visa program go to President Obama has already suffered negative consequences. The caller made a clear case that the American middle class, a constituency that Obama is courting for re-election is being harmed by H-1B. On the other hand, the economic elite tends to advocate for the controversial H-1B Visa program. For example, after the Senate vote on October 3, 2000 to increase the H-1B quota (It was tripled to 195,000 annually for 3 years,) Bennett said, “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”… “Bill to Boost Tech Visas Sails Through Congress Clinton expected to sign popular measure”, San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 4, 2000 Until our nation’s economic future is not vulnerable to such bribery, economic elites such as Bill Gates, III will continue to harm the American middle class.
The technology industry has been discriminating against older workers for some time. Flooding the labor market with H-1Bs for over 20 years is one of their methods. See for example “No Ph.D.s Need Apply,” by Sharon Begley et. al, December 5, 1994 pp 62-63, Newsweek Dr. Nelson is quoted extensively in this article. See also the 14 April 1993 Wall Street Journal article on page B-1 “Black Hole Opens in Scientist Job Rolls” by G. Pascal Zachary. Part of my story is highlighted in this article. (Search for these articles by the article titles.) I have had similar deflection responses from politicians, such as the time I gave testimony in the U.S. House of Representatives on 05 August 1999. Use the Google search syntax “Gene Nelson” “August 5, 1999” site: House.gov to learn more about this.
Kamal Nath, Commerce Minister of India called the H-1B the “Outsourcing Visa” in a 15 April 2007 New York Times story. Free-market advocate and Nobel economics laureate Milton Friedman called the H-1B Visa a “government subsidy” program in a 2002 ComputerWorld article, since it allows employers access to people at below-market rates. Search for the article via its title, “H-1B Is Just Another Gov’t. Subsidy.” Learn about the political corruption that made the program so incredibly large by reading my 10 page investigative report published in 2007. Search for the title, “The Greedy Gates Immigration Gambit” and select the more readable and informative PDF version.
In reality, the H-1B Visa program is not about the “best and brightest.” Instead it is about employment age discrimination and modern-day slavery, as the immigrant is effectively tied to the employer. This program pits the world’s poor against the American middle class, which is losing. H-1B is class warfare, as the experienced American is “extorted into oblivion,” since they are forced to train their young, imported replacement to do their job as a condition of receiving their meager outplacement benefit. Then, the American typically faces decades of unemployment and underemployment. This program should be shut down and not replaced. Citizens may use the powerful no-cost tools at NumbersUSA dot com and at FAIRUS dot org to press for elimination of the H-1B Visa program.
Great post Dr. Nelson. I have a friend (a software engineer) from India who is here on a work visa who admits that he is paid much less than his American counterparts. I went to a party for his family, and almost all of his work colleagues were (are) from India.
Great posting, Gene. You mention the H1-B visa bill of October, 2000. Do you remember the title of it? “American Competativeness in the 21st Century Act”. it was co-sponsored by Feinstein and Kennedy, but Feinstein abstained – ski accident broken leg. This act not only increased the numbers of h1-B visas “temporariiy”, but it removed the stipulation that the hiring party must first recruit any available qualified Americans. And for research and educational institutes, there is no H1-B visa cap. So if MicroSoft or Merck wishes to fund a research project/ study / R&D project through a university like Harvard, UCLA, or Rockefeller Institute, they can hire all the H1-B’s they wish.
Companies ruined or almost ruined by imported Indian labor
Adaptec – Indian CEO Subramanian Sundaresh fired.
AIG (signed outsourcing deal in 2007 in Europe with Accenture Indian frauds, collapsed in 2009)
AirBus (Qantas plane plunged 650 feet injuring passengers when its computer system written by India disengaged the auto-pilot).
Apple – R&D CLOSED in India in 2006.
Australia’s National Australia Bank (Outsourced jobs to India in 2007, nationwide ATM and account failure in late 2010).
Bell Labs (Arun Netravalli took over, closed, turned into a shopping mall)
Boeing Dreamliner ES software (written by HCL, banned by FAA)
Bristol-Myers-Squibb (Trade Secrets and documents stolen in U.S. by Indian national guest worker)
Caymas – Startup run by Indian CEO, French director of dev, Chinese tech lead. Closed after 5 years of sucking VC out of America.
Caterpillar misses earnings a mere 4 months after outsourcing to India, Inc.
Circuit City – Outsourced all IT to Indian-run IBM and went bankrupt shortly thereafter.
ComAir crew system run by 100% Indian IT workers caused the 12/25/05 U.S. airport shutdown when they used a short int instead of a long int
Computer Associates – Former CEO Sanjay Kumar, an Indian national, sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for accounting fraud.
Deloitte – 2010 – this Indian-packed consulting company is being sued under RICO fraud charges by Marin Country, California for a failed solution.
Dell – call center (closed in India)
Delta call centers (closed in India)
Fannie Mae – Hired large numbers of Indians, had to be bailed out. Indian logic bomb creator found guilty and sent to prison.
Goldman Sachs – Kunil Shah, VP & Managing Director – GS had to be bailed out by US taxpayers for $550 BILLION.
GM – Was booming in 2006, signed $300 million outsourcing deal with Wipro that same year, went bankrupt 3 years later
HP – Got out of the PC hardware business in 2011 and can’t compete with Apple’s tablets. HP was taken over by Indians and Chinese in 2001. So much for ‘Asian’ talent!
HSBC ATMs (software taken over by Indians, failed in 2006)
Intel Whitefield processor project (cancelled, Indian staff canned)
JetStar Airways computer failure brings down Christchurch airport on 9/17/11. JetStar is owned by Quantas – which is know to have outsourced to India, Inc.
Kodak: Outsourced to India in 2006, filed for bankruptcy in Jan, 2012.
Lehman (Jasjit Bhattal ruined the company. Spectramind software bought by Wipro, ruined, trashed by Indian programmers)
Medicare – Defrauded by Indian national doctor Arun Sharma & wife in the U.S.
Microsoft – Employs over 35,000 H-1Bs. Stock used to be $100. Today it’s lucky to be over $25. Not to mention that Vista thing.
MIT Media Lab Asia (canceled)
MyNines – A startup founded and run by Indian national Apar Kothari went belly up after throwing millions of America’s VC $ down the drain.
Nomura Securities – (In 2011 “struggling to compete on the world stage”). No wonder because Jasjit Bhattal formerly of failed Lehman ran it. See Lehman above.
PeopleSoft (Taken over by Indians in 2000, collapsed).
PepsiCo – Slides from #1 to #3 during Indian CEO Indra Nooyi’ watch.
Polycom – Former senior executive Sunil Bhalla charged with insider trading.
Qantas – See AirBus above
Quark (Alukah Kamar CEO, fired, lost 60% of its customers to Adobe because Indian-written QuarkExpress 6 was a failure)
Rolls Royce (Sent aircraft engine work to India in 2006, engines delayed for Boeing 787, and failed on at least 2 Quantas planes in 2010, cost Rolls $500m).
SAP – Same as Deloitte above in 2010.
Singapore airlines (IT functions taken over in 2009 by TCS, website trashed in August, 2011)
Skype (Madhu Yarlagadda fired)
State of Indiana $867 million FAILED IBM project, IBM being sued
State of Texas failed IBM project.
Sun Micro (Taken over by Indian and Chinese workers in 2001, collapsed, had to be sold off to Oracle).
UK’s NHS outsourced numerous jobs including health records to India in mid-2000 resulting in $26 billion over budget.
Union Bank of California – Cancelled Finacle project run by India’s InfoSys in 2011.
United – call center (closed in India)
Victorian Order of Nurses, Canada (Payroll system screwed up by SAP/IBM in mid-2011)
Virgin Atlantic (software written in India caused cloud IT failure)
World Bank (Indian fraudsters BANNED for 3 years because they stole data).
I could post the whole list here but I don’t want to crash any servers.
I wisjh you can tell more. about your jobs being Loss. Thank you and Website too. Thank you WakJob.
He is just saying this because it is an election year and acting concerned. He knows exactly what is going on. We’re in the middle of an economic race war presidency. This is all about the economic disposition of white people. Wake up America. The gov’t works for the globalist bankers.