Thread: President Obama is “Interested” in Tech Industry H-1B Abuses

President Obama is “Interested” in Tech Industry H-1B Abuses

ImmigrationReform.com
January 31, 2012 By Eric Ruark

There was an extraordinary exchange Monday evening on a Google+ “Hangout” between President Obama and a woman whose husband is an unemployed semiconductor engineer.

She asked the President why H-1B visas are still being issued when there are many Americans like her husband –struggling to find permanent employment in the tech industry. President Obama’s answer perfectly illustrates why, to borrow one of his favorite terms, “our immigration system is broken.”

The President answers that “what industry tells me” is that there is a lack of skilled workers in the U.S., which is a little like saying, “the foxes tell me the henhouse is secure.”

The reality is that the tech industry is bringing in tens of thousands of new long-term foreign guest workers every year (there are about 650,000 H-1B workers in the United States right now), who are displacing highly-skilled Americans.

So instead of directing the government agencies responsible for administering the H-1B program to ensure that American workers are not adversely affected, the President is taking the word of the employers who are using H-1B workers to drive down wages and put Americans out of work. He finds the unemployed American engineer’s situation “interesting” and wants to find out what is happening.

But there is an even more telling statement made by President Obama that demonstrates a breathtaking ignorance of how the H-1B program operates. He believes it should only be used for companies who say they can not find qualified American workers. But employers are not required to do any such thing. The federal government allows employers to bring in H-1B guest workers even though there is an overabundance of skilled American workers available.

Only “H-1B dependent” employers (more than 15% of their workforce) have to “attest” that they “attempted” to recruit a U.S. worker, and these attestations are virtually rubber stamped by the Department of Labor.

Between 2000 and 2009, an astounding 94% of all H-1B applications were approved. When the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency (USCIS) examined a random sample of H-1B applications in 2008, it found that 21% contained violations, including 13% that were fraudulent. Obviously the federal government is not really concerned about whether or not the industry’s claims are true.

In 2007, then Senator Obama said this: “The intent is that H-1B visas only be issued if qualified American workers are unable to take the jobs in question…. I fully agree that H-1B hires should be a last recourse as a matter of labor policy.” If that is his position then he now has the power to make sure that this becomes a matter of policy.

The President says he wants to follow up on this issue. We will take him at his word and recommend he begins by reading FAIR’s report on the subject. He should also talk to Sens. Durbin and Grassley, who understand that the “H-1B visa program is plagued with fraud and abuse and is a vehicle for outsourcing American jobs.”

They have drafted legislation that would require employers to actually demonstrate a need for foreign workers, and would close the loophole that allows employers to pay foreign workers below prevailing industry wage rates.

Source: President Obama is

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Obama Tells Woman: "Interesting" Unemployed Husband Can't Find Job



During his Google+ hangout Pres. Obama tells a woman that her husband shouldn't be unemployed from the growth he has seen in the economy. Obama said he finds it "interesting" because he is getting "the word" that someone in her husband's job field "should be able to find something right away."

Obama offered to do something if she would just send him her husband's resume.

The woman wants to know why Obama is extending visas for foreigners when there is tons of demand for American jobs by Americans.

"I don't know what your husband's speciality [is], but I can tell you that there is a huge demand around the country for engineers," Obama told the woman.

"I understand that," she responded. "But how am -- given the list that you're getting, I mean we're not getting that. You said in the State of the Union address for business leaders to ask what can they do to bring jobs back to America."

During the back and forth between Obama and the wife of an unemployed engineer, Obama asked for his resume.

"Can I ask you what kind of engineer your husband is?" Obama said to the wife of the unemployed engineer.

"He's a semiconductor engineer," she responded.

"It is interesting to me -- and I meant what I said if your send me your husband's resume, I'd be interested in finding out exactly what's happening right there because the word that we're getting is that somebody in that type of high-tech field, that kind of engineer, should be able to find something right away," Obama said.

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/vid...ng_to_him.html

I worked for years in the Hi-tech Industry, in the Semi-conductor field and this is not something new. Some companies in the hi-tech industry are notorious for their hiring and laying off tactics. The industry is hard on engineers as they age. If you don't make it into upper management your days are numbered. The elephant in the room is not that there are not enough enigneers it is that they want the youngest and brightest. The kids straight out of school with new ideas. If they cannot find enough of these young engineers in the U.S. then they look to other countries and bring them in while throwing aside experienced engineers.

Originally Posted by MontereySherry

I worked for years in the Hi-tech Industry, in the Semi-conductor field and this is not something new. Some companies in the hi-tech industry are notorious for their hiring and laying off tactics. The industry is hard on engineers as they age. If you don't make it into upper management your days are numbered. The elephant in the room is not that there are not enough enigneers it is that they want the youngest and brightest. The kids straight out of school with new ideas. If they cannot find enough of these young engineers in the U.S. then they look to other countries and bring them in while throwing aside experienced engineers.

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related

This is from the Bush years, which were the highest rates in sheer numbers for illegal aliens and visa abuses in the history of the US.

This is just one example of job loss and illegal job market manipulation allowed by our Congress and Senate to go on during Bush's tenure, which has of course been continued during Obama's.

Immigration attorneys from Cohen & Grigsby explains how they assist employers in running classified ads with the goal of NOT finding any qualified applicants, and the steps they go through to disqualify even the most qualified Americans in order to secure green cards for H-1b workers.

See what Bush and Congress really mean by a "shortage of skilled U.S. workers." Microsoft, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, and thousands of other companies were running fake ads in Sunday newspapers across the country each week.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg On Capitol Hill To Press Lawmakers On Immigration Reform

Originally Posted by HAPPY2BME

The President answers that “what industry tells me” is that there is a lack of skilled workers in the U.S., which is a little like saying, “the foxes tell me the henhouse is secure.”

The reality is that the tech industry is bringing in tens of thousands of new long-term foreign guest workers every year (there are about 650,000 H-1B workers in the United States right now), who are displacing highly-skilled Americans.

Patriots need to find ways to reach out to these displaced tech workers.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

Obviously, Obama didn't really mean one word of what he told this poor woman. He's the mother of all LIARS and doesn't give a D*MN about what's happening to US workers and our middle class!!

Revealed: The Tech Sector's (Zuckerberg) Permanent Campaign for Amnesty

The NY Department of Labor has known about H1-B abuse by employers for over 10 years. Yet, they continue to list jobs which they know the employer intends to fill with a foreigner. That way the employer satisfies the legal requirement that the job is publicly listed with NY Dept of Labor, and that department continues to be complicit with those employers who will eventually say that can't find anyone here in the US. This is about lowering the salaries and wages of American citizens. That is why the Chamber of Commerce supports blanket amnesty.