The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS.org) has published several "untold stories" of American workers hurt by the H-1B program:
Untold Stories: The American Workers Replaced by the H-1B Visa Program – May 4, 2019
We're glad CIS.org published this piece. The stories it highlights are sadly familiar—American STEM workers, forced out of their roles by foreign workers.
The stories have all the same elements we've heard before: forced to train replacements or they wouldn't receive their severance, underqualified (or unskilled!) foreign workers, problems finding new work, ignored by government in favor of Big Tech lobbyists wanting more H-1B visas.
What's not as common is CIS.org's willingness to publish accounts where workers called out H-1B skill levels. The H-1B program's entire foundation rests on supplementing the American STEM workforce with "highly skilled workers." These stories demonstrate that this is far from the truth...something many people have known for a long time.
We've included one of the stories here, as we thought it the most poignant:
"Person 3 has degrees in computer science and math and is a software engineer. She is in her 40s and has worked in the financial sector in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. "I have been outsourced [replaced by H-1Bs] more times than I can count, and I am a higher performer. I have a career of no gaps, of models, of commendations, of awards, and of promotions," she said.
"She saw almost no Americans at her former employer of 7,500 people and says it is inaccurate to classify H-1B recipients as "high-skill." She said, "The notion that these H-1B visa holders are specialized is a complete sham. They come out of sham universities in Bangalore with no specializations whatsoever."
"She said the most insulting part was being forced to train her unqualified replacement. "I was told that I'd only get my severance if I agreed to train my replacement, who was far less qualified than I was, and if I promised not to sue. It's an insult."
"She said that she didn't think that after 20 years in her career she'd still be constantly scared of lay-offs, and doesn't want her own kid to go into STEM now."
Doesn't want her own children to go into STEM. Twenty years of expertise and she has zero job security. How lopsided is our immigration system when it produces this much damage?
It's nothing we haven't heard before...but it needs sharing. More people need to hear the truth about the damage being done to the American STEM workforce, and Congress needs to act.
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