With Unemployment Near Ten Percent, Giffords Seeks Importation of More Cheap Foreign Labor

A very timely post from www.fairus.org about an attempt to expand the number of immigrants now!

With Unemployment Near Ten Percent, Giffords Seeks Importation of More Cheap Foreign Labor
FAIR has learned that – with unemployment at its highest rate in more than 25 years – Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) is prepared to introduce legislation that would double the number of visas available annually for foreign workers under the H-1B visa program. The H-1B visa program allows employers to bring foreign workers to the United States to work in specialty occupations that require “the theoretical and practical application of a body of specialized knowledge and a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent in the specific specialty.” (Department of Labor).
Giffords has not yet formally introduced her H-1B legislation, but sources indicate that it will be similar to a bill that Giffords sponsored in the previous Congress. That legislation, entitled “The Innovation
Employment Act,” would have:
Doubled the H-1B visa cap from its current level of 65,000 a year to 130,000 a year;
Increased the H-1B cap to 180,000 in the years 2010 to 2015 if the 130,000 cap was reached in the previous year; and
Eliminated the cap – currently at 20,000 – on H-1B visas issued to foreign graduate students attending U.S. colleges and studying science, technology and related fields. (H.R. 5630, March 13, 2008).
In spite of lobbying by big business special interests seeking easier access to cheap foreign labor – including Microsoft (See Computerworld, October 20, 2008) – the Giffords bill was buried in committee and never received any significant consideration. (H.R. 5630 – All Actions).
Giffords’ decision to renew her pursuit of a massive increase in the importation of cheap foreign labor amid the current economic recession is curious, to say the least. According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nationwide unemployment rate is now at a 26-year high of 9.8 percent. (Reuters, October 2, 2009; Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2, 2009). Nevertheless, Giffords and others are continuing to seek to utilize the H-1B program to displace American workers with cheap foreign labor.
Last week, in fact, the Shreveport Times in Louisiana reported that the Caddo Parrish School Board had “agreed to pay $1,660 to each Filipino teacher recruited by Universal Placement International to apply for each teacher’s H-1B visa.” Caddo Parish has hired 43 teachers on H-1B visas “for difficult-to-fill positions.” Caddo’s agreement to pay $1,660 per teacher has come about as a result of a complaint filed by the Louisiana Federation of Teachers on behalf of more than 200 Filipino teachers working in several parishes throughout the state. The complaint was filed against Universal Placement International, alleging that this recruiting company had “charged teachers an exorbitant amount of money, about $15,000, to secure a teaching position in the United States and proper documentation. Once they arrived, teachers then were charged 10 percent of their monthly income.” (Shreveport Times, October 21, 2009).
Government studies have also indicated that the H-1B visa program is highly susceptible to fraud. (H-1B Benefit Fraud & Compliance Assessment, September 2008). In fact, on October 16, 2009, the federal government announced that it had arrested a California-based immigration lawyer and his business partners who had allegedly “set[] up nearly a dozen shell companies to file fraudulent employment visa petitions on behalf of their clients.” According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), “[m]any of the petitions were for H-1B visas,” and “the aliens named in those visa applications [allegedly] never worked for the defendants or the fictitious companies.” The group then allegedly sold the H-1B visas to immigrants seeking to come to the United States for prices ranging from $6,000 to over $50,000. ICE claims that the lawyer and his partners then used the illegal proceeds to purchase empty cemetery plots to hide the funds. (ICE Press Release, October 16, 2009). High rates of fraud and technical violations within the H-1B visa program have prompted Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) to introduce legislation with the stated goal of “reform[ing] and reduc[ing] fraud and abuse” in the H-1B program. (S.887, April 23, 2009).