Thread: American Businesses & Immigration Fraud

American Businesses & Immigration Fraud

Commerce Department data ( http://www.cbpp.org/8-31-06inc.htm ) indicates that the share of national income going to wages and salaries in 2006 was at its lowest level on record, with data going back to 1929, while the share of national income captured by corporate profits is at its highest level on record. After adjusting for inflation, wages and salaries have grown at a 1.9 percent of the average annual rate, whereas corporate profits have grown at a 12.8 percent of the average annual rate. In previous post-World War II recoveries, wages and salaries grew at an average annual rate of 3.8 percent and corporate profits during equivalent periods of past post-World War II business cycles have shown an average annual growth rate of 8.3 percent. The Commerce Department data also indicates that while employer contributions for pensions and health insurance have increased at close to the average rate, the share of national income going to total employee compensation in 2006 is at its lowest level since 1968.

In a market driven economy where the scarcity of any given commodity is directly proportional to increased cost of obtaining it, this is the strongest evidence possible that U.S. businesses are not suffering from a shortage of workers despite what the proponents of increased immigration have been claiming. In a market driven economy, a shortage of workers would be evident because the increased business competition to hire the workers that were available would result in higher wages and higher total compensation packages designed to attract a larger pool of workers, however, this is obviously not the case, and the data regularly collected by the U.S. Commerce Department exposes the fallacious nature of the claim that a shortage of workers exists in the United States.

Considering the highly emotional and overly politicized discussion of so many immigration related issues currently going on and the increased pressure brought to bear by an infinite number of business association and agricultural corporation lobbying groups, the most obvious question that never seems to be asked is, since we are not facing an actual shortage of workers, why are so many business interests investing unimaginable sums of money in the effort to increase the quota for H-1B visas and relax the requirements for H-2A visas?

Since there is no evidence to support the claim that a shortage of workers exists in the U.S. the next, most obvious motivating factor for businesses to be spending so much money in their attempts to increase the number of visas available is profit, and it doesn’t take much research to discover numerous ways that American businesses are profiting by hiring foreign workers under the current H-1B visa program, nor does it take a genius to figure out how their profits would increase even more if the cap on H-1B visas were raised and they could hire even more foreign workers. Furthermore, when it comes to low or no-skill workers coming into the U.S. with H-2A and H-2B visas, the profit factor is even clearer.

Prior to getting into explaining how American businesses profit from hiring foreign workers it would be apropos to point out that their are a large number of increasingly wealthy American companies that are entirely dependent on the visa trade for their income. Labor brokers, immigration attorneys and various types of consulting companies are racking in huge profits as a result of the numerous immigration visa programs in the United States. The veritable cornucopia of services they supply include advising companies on current immigration law, explaining how to take advantage of the numerous loopholes available and recruiting services to screen potential foreign employees and providing legal advice to aliens at an hourly rate comparable to high priced divorce attorneys. On the shadier end of the scale there are airline companies and travel agencies that are selling blocks of tickets to human smugglers, landlords and rental agents who provide homes where smugglers can hide illegal aliens, taxi drivers near the border who are charging three to four times the regular rate to drive illegal aliens to large cities where they can disappear into the woodwork and used-car dealerships that allow smugglers to register vehicles under fictitious names that are never verified. Immigration, legal and illegal, is a very profitable business and there are a vast number of less than entirely ethical American business and entrepreneurial individuals willing to take full advantage of every profitable opportunity they can. Furthermore, each and every American business or individual enterprise taking advantage of the immigration situation to increase their profit margin is more than willing to scream loudly and enthusiastically at the slightest indication of any potential change that could negatively affect their continued ability to turn a profit. The massive profits these operators are pulling in make the services of lobbying firms, spin artists and Washington’s many corrupt politicians easily affordable.

Large American business enterprises are encouraging increases in the skilled worker visa categories because they have found a number of ways to profit by taking advantage of the visa programs. By law, American companies hiring foreign workers under the H-1B visa program are required to pay the prevailing rate for each specific job they are hiring for. The prevailing wage guidelines are set by Congress and employer compliance is administered by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) through its foreign labor certification office. In most cases the prevailing rate is significantly lower than the market rate for the same job. In other words, the wages an employer must pay to attract an American worker are as much as 20 to 25 percent higher than what the employer is required to pay a foreign worker under the provisions of the H-1B visa program. Furthermore, there is little standardization among the various wage scales used and employers have been known to change the job titles and employ other tricks to allow themselves the ability to pay significantly lower wages to foreign workers under a visa program in which there is little oversight provided by the federal government. This provides a huge financial incentive for businesses to hire foreign workers and leave the American workers standing in the unemployment lines. For those that are quick to point out that federal law protects American workers by requiring employers to offer their jobs to American citizens first there is a great video on You Tube that is a must see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbFEgFa ... geNumber=2

The film was posted by the Programmers Guild of Summit, New Jersey and it includes excerpts from a seminar conducted by Pittsburgh-based law firm Cohen & Grigsby PC. In the video, Lawrence Lebowitz, an attorney at Cohen & Grigsby explains a method that can be used for hiring foreign workers under the U.S. government’s Program Electronic Review Management process which stipulates that employers must first take out help wanted ads to fill job vacancies, with the intent of either hiring U.S. workers or showing that no qualified Americans are available. However, the information that Lebowitz focuses on is aimed at circumventing the potential U.S. citizens than might apply for the job and making it easier for the employer to hire the foreign worker at a much lower wage level. In the video, Lebowitz openly explains, “Our goal is clearly not to find a qualified and interested U.S. worker,â€

This makes me sick.

Excellent post Zeezil!

tiredofapathy

put your website on my favorites.......thanks