Last month, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the H-1B Visa program. A piece at NetworkWorld.com (edited by Patrick Thibodeau) reported on the Committee’s statements, testimonies and emotionally-charged debates.
The H-1B Visa Debate: Pain and the Politics – NetworkWorld (Signup required)
At stake is the number of H-1B visas awarded each year – right now set at 65,000. The
I-Squared Actwants to increase the number up to 195,000. The Committee took statements from 400 IT workers displaced by SoCal Edison’s recent H-1B hiring spree, as well as testimony from professors & whistleblowers.
From the NetworkWorld article, it appears that the hearing was set up like “U.S. Workers vs. Corporate Lobbyists”.
The lobbyists came out shooting, too. A group of lobbying groups & associations sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee (PDF of the letter here:
Concerning the March 17, 2015 hearing on: Immigration Reforms Needed to Protect Skilled American Worker )
The letter declares such statements as:
"Lowering the number of immigrants would free up jobs for American workers."
and
"Foreign workers displace American workers in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields."
As "myths" and "anecdotes"!
The signatories of this letter included:
- FWD.US – Mark Zuckerberg’s lobbying group for increasing H-1B foreign workers
- Silicon Valley Leadership Group – Silicon Valley CEOs seeking to influence regional politics, education,
the environment, immigration...
- The American Immigration Lawyers Association
- Partnership for a New American Economy—A group of mayors & business leaders campaigning for “streamlining, modernizing, and rationalizing our immigration system.”
- And many more.
Meanwhile, workers are losing their careers & livelihoods to these "myths".
Video of the hearing & downloadable testimonies are available here:
www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/immigration-reforms-needed-to-protect-skilled-american-workersSee for yourself. Whose side are the major corporate lobbying groups on?
Given how hard they're fighting to bring more foreign workers into the U.S., the answer appears to be, "Not ours."