Thread: Gates Warns On US Immigration Curbs

If Bill Gates really cared about education in the United States then he should build a fence on our southern border so as to keep out the illegals and their children who are ultimately dumbing down the schools. It is no wonder our schools are doing so poor when so many of the students do not speak English or are not motivated to learn.

Bill Gates urges lawmakers to improve U.S. schools, reform immigration laws

By: NANCY ZUCKERBROD - Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told Congress on Wednesday that overhauls of the nation's schools and immigration laws are urgently needed to keep jobs from going overseas.

"The U.S. cannot maintain its economic leadership unless our work force consists of people who have the knowledge and skills needed to drive innovation," Gates told the Senate committee that oversees labor and education issues.

Gates, whose charitable foundation has given away more than $3 billion since 1999 for educational programs and scholarships, noted that about 30 percent of U.S. ninth-graders fail to graduate on time. "As a nation, we should start with this goal: Every child in the United States graduating from high school," he said.


Gates also challenged lawmakers to push for higher educational standards and to make more challenging coursework available to students.

A federal study released last month showed about a third of high schoolers fail to take a standard-level curriculum, which is defined as including at least four credits of English and three credits each of social studies, math and science.

Gates also called on lawmakers to give more resources and attention to improving the teaching of math and science -- knowledge essential to many of today's jobs. Another recent federal study found 40 percent of high school seniors failed to perform at the basic level on a national math test. On a national science test, half of 12th-graders didn't show basic skills.

"We simply cannot sustain an economy based on innovation unless our citizens are educated in math, science and engineering," Gates said.

Legislation moving through the Senate, backed by Democratic and Republican leaders, seeks to get more people to become math and science teachers and would improve training for them. The bill also seeks to get more highly trained teachers in poor schools and would offer grants to states to better align their teaching with what kids should know to succeed at a job or in college.

Gates said the nation's economy depends on keeping the country's borders open to highly skilled workers, especially those with a science or engineering background. Federal law provides 65,000 H1-B visas for scientists, engineers, computer programmers and other professionals every budget year. High-tech and other employers say that's not enough.

"Even though it may not be realistic, I don't think there should be any limit," Gates said, adding that Microsoft hasn't been able to fill approximately 3,000 technical jobs in the United States because of a shortage of skilled workers.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said the issue would be addressed when Congress takes up broad immigration reform legislation this session. President Bush has expressed support for raising the visa cap.

Gates -- who is No. 1 on Forbes magazine's list of richest Americans -- also told the committee in response to a question that he opposes repeal of the federal estate tax. Current law will phase out the tax by 2010, but without further action by Congress it will be restored at a 55 percent rate in 2011.

On the Net:

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions:

http://help.senate.gov/

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation:

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/03 ... 3_7_07.txt

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Oh, I'm sorry I hadn't seen your question PhredE. I didn't mean to make it seem like I was ignoring the question for so long.


Well, I guess that only plausible explanation I can give your question is because of the influx of these H1B visas that are needed to fill certain spots in the workforce. My theory is this: if we had more graduates for these jobs, we wouldn't need these H1B immigrants, therefore the salaries would stay at the amount that they should be at.


However, since there is such a shortage, these workers are ushered into this country to fill these spots and, obviously, the employers are going to take advantage of them HEAVILY. I have seen this and even reported a supervisor of mine to the Department of Labor. Needless to say, this man is no longer working with us.


If we could just find these graduates there would be no need to grab workers from other countries. And here's where overhauling the education system comes in.

I know in my school district their pushing math and science.

The grammer school level purchased every science experiment offered in the curriculum. The middle school and high school are pushing it too.


Their hearing the cry for math and science in NJ that is for sure.

If they take the caps of the HB1 visas and let the companies continually hire foreigner, what is the incentive for college students to go into engineering and IT? There has to be a limit. It has to be fair for our kids. Did'nt Lou Dobbs recently have a union for engineers discussing this issue and asking for work? Why are'nt these engineers being sought after?

Between outsourcing, HB1 visas ect.. it sounds like were turning America into a turnstyle for foreign workers while we ignore American workers.

skip wrote:

If Bill Gates really cared about education in the United States then he should build a fence on our southern border so as to keep out the illegals and their children who are ultimately dumbing down the schools.

Gates is correct here--the NEA has been dumbing down our schools long before illegals were involved and Gates is only interested in the bottom line!

CCUSA wrote:

It has to be fair for our kids.

No, it doesn't have to be "fair" for our kids, our kids have to quit being coddled and realize that competition leads to excellence and job placement. Maybe, just maybe, we have taught our kids to take the easy way out!

Here's a story from the Dan Stein blog from Dec.

December 28, 2006


High Tech Firms Ready Lobbying Blitz for New Congress


“Advanced technology industrial interests in the United States are lobbying members of Congress to change immigration policies toward highly skilled immigrants. Some recent studies are being used to support the case that U.S. high-tech industries are suffering as they compete against other countries in the technology boom these past several years. These interests assert that restrictions on the number of H-1B workers available each year is hurting U.S. companies,” says UK news site Workpermit.com. “Just last week, the 110th U.S. Congress, now under a thin majority control of the liberal-leaning Democratic Party, has begun bi-partisan negotiation to create new bills. The Senate version is currently estimated to be ready for a vote in April or May of 2007, followed later in the year by a House version. Addressing changes in the H-1B program is one of many expected items in these bills.”


Read the full story

Comments

The H-1B visa is not a pure guest-worker visa, it is actually a dual intent visa, which means that employers also have the option of sponsoring the foreign workers for a green card, which is often called an employment-based visa. This dual-intent feature of H-1B makes it even more dangerous to the careers of American professionals. I have seen many Americans displaced from jobs by H-1B workers. That displacement can become permanent once the H-1B workers obtain green cards and legal permanent status.

As a Human Resources professional with over 10 years in large corporations as well as some start-ups, I have observed first hand how American job seekers are deceived and defrauded by the Labor Certification process that employers go thru when they seek to sponsor a foreign tech worker for an employment-based green card.

By federal law, employers don’t have to seek Americans first when hiring a foreign worker on an H-1B visa, but they DO have to “prove” that they made an attempt to find an American worker first when sponsoring a foreign national for an employment-based green card.Here is how the scam usually works:

1. A job opening is created and the “required skills” that are published for the position are usually far greater than what the job actually requires and beyond what well-qualified candidates could reasonably be expected to have.

2. The open job is “advertised” via word of mouth to recruiting agencies, in order to avoid media advertising costs.

3. If the recruiting agencies can find Americans who actually meet the inflated requirements, then those Americans who are referred by the recruiting agencies are invited in for interviews.

4. The Americans are usually put thru an unrealistically rigorous interview and screening process. They are asked many esoteric technical questions which are not really related to the job opening. This process is designed to make them look bad even if they actually are a good fit for the position. When that happens, the American job candidates are told via their agencies that they “were not qualified” for the position.

5. In the event that an American actually does answer most or all of the esoteric interview questions correctly, then that candidate is informed that he or she simply “does not fit the company culture”.

6. The employer then fills out a form attesting that “no qualified American could be found” and submits it to the Feds. Then a foreign worker is sponsored for an employment based green card.

The employer often knows which foreign worker they want to hire before they even start this fraudulent process. In some cases the foreign worker that is sponsored for a green card is already working for the sponsoring employer on an H-1B visa. Employers love the green card program because if the foreign worker ever leaves, then he/she has to find another sponsor and start the very lengthy green card process all over. This is 21st century slavery.

I have seen this scam pulled repeatedly in several companies over the last 10 years. Many well-meaning American job seekers have been hurt by this process. Those Human Resources employees who know of these activities are told that they will be fired and “blacklisted” in the corporate world if they ever go to the media with what they know.

Along with the fraud related to green card sponsorship, there is nothing in the H-1B regulations that prevents employers from firing or laying off Americans and then replacing them with H-1B holders.

In fact, I have seen cases where layoffs and firings of Americans were organized around the availability of H-1B visas. That means if the H-1B cap is raised you can expect more layoffs in the affected industries. H-1B is an "American worker reduction and elimination" program.

There is little if any legal consideration for American workers in either the H-1B or employment based green card programs, and what little that does exist is often violated by employers, who know that the Dept. of Labor will never seriously investigate any claims of discrimination against Americans.

Because of the abuse and discrimination that I have seen, there should certainly be no increases in H-1B visas or employment-based green cards. Actually, these programs, which are paid for by American tax dollars, should be discontinued altogether.

Posted by: K-Light on December 28

MORE IMPORTANT INFOR:

HERE IS A INTERVIEW WITH THE PROGRAMMER GUILD
http://www.programmersguild.org/docs/lo ... index.html
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http://www.steinreport.com/archives/2006_12.html

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CCUSA,

Then, please explain why. Bill Gates is interested in nothing but the bottom line!

Oliver

He's an elitist. I don't think he thinks in terms anymore of being American. He's a globalist. His motivation is the shareholders and the bottom line.

He has the same rhetoric as President Boosh. "Jobs Americans just don't want to do" only his is "There are not enough skilled Americans to work for us" I don't think they want to pay the salaries when they know they can get a HB1 worker for less and the green card issue mentioned above in my last post. It makes that worker a slave if he want a chance at citizenship. If he or she tries to leave they have to start the whole citizenship process all over with a new sponsor. The companies have them at their mercy.

What are the encentives for our kids to enter these fields if they outsource all low skilled jobs and high skilled jobs? Where does that leave Americans?

I'm not saying eliminate all HB1 visas, but keep the caps. I don't want a free for all on American jobs and a program ripe for abuse, which I can gather from the comments I just posted are probably already going on.

Just like we need balanced trade we need a fair playing field for American workers. I just don't believe unlimited foreign labor is good for America.

CCUSA wrote:

I'm not saying eliminate all HB1 visas, but keep the caps.

Right on!!! But, let's get our kids educated--this has a lot to do with the NEA and parents!!!