Thread: E-mail from U.S. Rep Mike Conaway (R-TX)

I wanted to update you about the ongoing immigration situation here in Washington. Following the collapse of the Senate immigration compromise, the conversation on immigration has stalled as many Members of Congress have decided that the problem cannot be solved or it is too politically sensitive of an issue. Unfortunately, although the political will to address this crisis has waned, the urgency of the problem has not and it will only grow more desperate with inaction.



Our immigration system is clearly broken and I see three distinct courses of action needed to solve it. First and foremost, we must secure the border. Then, we must create a rational, non-amnesty, temporary worker program. Finally, the entire bureaucracy and rule-making structure needs to be overhauled to better reflect the current realities we face. I believe that there are enough votes in Congress to pass legislation focusing on all three of these areas, just not in one massive bill as the Senate attempted to do.



All people, illegal or not, respond to the incentives around them to create the best possible situation for their future. If we arrange our laws in a way that benefits illegal aliens, we should not be surprised to see individuals attempting to sneak into the country illegally - the significant risks are worth it because of the clear rewards at the other end of the ordeal. There are several pending bills before Congress which will reduce the incentives for illegal crossings.



The Birthright Citizenship Act of 2007, H.R. 1940, would extend citizenship at birth only to children that have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national, or a lawful permanent resident in the United States, or an alien performing active service in our armed forces. We can no longer continue to confer citizenship without regard to the status of the parents of a child; it is bad policy that encourages illegal behavior. Eliminating future "anchor babies" is one less incentive for people to illegally cross our border and one less hurdle for deporting those who do.



We must also make justice swift and certain for criminal immigration cases. The current situation is anything but expedient, as federal courts in Texas and the Southwest are paralyzed by the backlog of immigration related cases before them, accounting for roughly half of their workload. I have cosponsored H.R. 1909, the Federal Criminal Immigration Courts of 2007, to end this unacceptable situation. H.R. 1909 would create eight new permanent Federal judgeships across the American southwest, including one in West Texas. More judges will enable the courts to resolve criminal immigration proceedings faster and cheaper than we are currently able. If potential illegal aliens know that they will face certain punishment for breaking our laws, they will be less likely to enter our country illegally.



Finally, I have cosponsored H.R. 332 to close a loophole that allows illegal aliens to use their wages to count toward future Social Security benefits. We are rapidly approaching a financial crisis with Social Security and we should not provide benefits on wages earned illegally.



In a related but separate issue, we must continue to refine our temporary immigration policy to take advantage of our strengths in the global market place. This year US colleges and universities will educate hundreds of thousands of foreign students, many of who desire to stay and make there home in the United States. These highly educated potential immigrants can enrich our society and economy by sharing their talents and skills with the U.S. firms who hire them, making our nation more economically competitive.



In an effort to increase our ability to retain foreigners who were educated in America, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and Representative John Shadegg (R-AZ) have worked together to introduce the Securing Knowledge, Innovation and Leadership (SKIL) Act, H.R. 5744. This legislation would allow foreign nationals with student visas to stay in America after they graduate and join the workforce. The SKIL Act works to keep one of the most valuable resources for an economy in the country, a motivated, highly educated work force.



Our immigration crisis will not be solved by putting our collective heads in the sand and keeping the status quo. Clearly we need a new approach to tackling this issue. I will continue to urge my colleagues to make two changes in this debate. First, we should use our oversight power to ensure that the current laws are being enforced. And second, we must change our tone and have an honest, levelheaded conversation on how we can again make immigration work for our country. As Congress returns to the business of legislating, I will continue to remind my colleagues of the urgency of this issue and press for significant immigration legislation to be passed. If you have any further questions or concerns about immigration or any other matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. For more information on my work in Congress or to sign up for my weekly email, please visit the 11 th District's website at www.conaway.house.gov.


Mike

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to email me through my website at www.house.gov/conaway. This email address goes to an empty email box and cannot be responded to.

H-1B Visas - A Tool To Destroy the American Middle Class




What the SKIL Bill does:

* H-1B Visas: Increase the annual cap of 65,000 to 115,000, automatically increase the new cap by 20 percent each year the cap is hit, and creates a new exemption to the cap for anyone who has an "advanced degree in science, technology, engineering, or math" from any foreign university.

* Convert H-1B to Green Cards: Workers are eligible for green cards and would be allowed to stay and work in the United States for as long as it takes to process the green card application. As long as an H-1B applies for a Green Card, he/she can stay in the U.S. forever so it will no longer be a temporary visa.

* Employment Based Green Cards: The bill would increase the annual cap on employment-based green cards by more than 500 percent, upping the current cap of 140,000 to 450,000 until 2016 and to 290,000 thereafter and exempting all immediate family members that currently count against the cap today (spouses, children and
parents) from the newly escalated cap.

* F-4 Visas: This new visa is perhaps the most pernicious part of the Skil bill. It allows foreign students to work as they go to school, and then to look for work for up to two years after graduating. They are put on a fast track to a Green Card if they do find work, so they don't even have to get an H-1B first! The F-4 visa will put foreign students in direct competition for scarce internships, which will make it much more difficult for American students to work and study, and to find work after graduation. When you think about it, if there is a shortage of workers with advanced degrees, why does Shadegg give foreign graduates two years to find a job?

WHAT IS AN H1-B VISA?

When we hear politicians speak of "guest worker plans," politicians and business want us to think of unskilled workers picking onions. But that's not what they have in mind. Instead of "jobs Amerians won't do," their "guest workers" are for "jobs Americans aren't qualified to do."

We've all seen foreign doctors, engineers, computer workers and even nurses, and most are in the US on H1-B visas (also called 'high-tech' visas). When the H1-B visa program began in 1990, corporations rejoiced at the supply of cheap "white collar" labor, just as agriculture, hotels and restaurants welcome illegal aliens.

The real bonus for corporations in H1-B workers is that their salaries are untaxed: they pay no FICA, FIT, SIT. Of course the can accept lower salaries; we all could if we were tax-exempt. Yet H1-Bs aren't "low overhead," because many bring spouses, children, parents and siblings. Nor are they "temporary" with a visa period of 6 years. They
use American services but pay nothing to the overhead. Yet that truth is carefully kept from us, just as discussion of illegal immigration was verboten just a few years ago.

Even after factoring in the "tax-exempt" salaries, H1-B workers usually earn much less than US workers. Just as with illegal aliens, corporations count the savings on their bottom lines.

Just as with illegal aliens in other industries. Generally H1-B workers are used when "offshore outsourcing" isn't practical. And the most common rationale used by corporations is pure extortion: "If we don't get our H1-B visa increase, we'll have to consider sending the work offshore." And politicians eagerly comply.

The "hush-hush" and misrepresentation associated with H1-Bs makes politicians feel safe in pandering to corporate demands with their generous campaign donations, and corporations and politicians are determined to keep it that way. This secrecy enables politicians to feel very safe in accommodating every demand by Bill Gates, Intel and the like for more and more H1-B visas. Even "pro-enforcement" people like J.D. Hayworth have historically been strong supporters of
H1-Bs.

To further insure secrecy, H1-Bs are usually employed and paid by foreign-based contract labor firms to insure that co-workers don't see their payroll records showing no payroll tax deductions. But senators and congress members are well aware of it; I confirmed that early in April when speaking with an aide to Senator Frist.

H1-B expert Rob Sanchez says that the H1-B system is the worst immigration program for fraud and abuse. Considering what we know of the fraud and abuse in tourist and student visas, illegal aliens and religious visas, that's quite an achievement. It's also an indicator of the level of fraud that will be permitted with any NEW "guest worker plan" demanded by George Bush.

During our visit to Senator Kyl, Rob presented Kyl's "rap sheet" as a strong supporter of every vote on H1-B visas during his time in Congress. Although H1-B program abuse was clearly specified in our letter to Kyl (signed by 83 registered voters), Kyl aide Craig Wismer had no answers for our continued questions on why Kyl supports this abominable program.

During our initial preparation for the Shadegg visit, Rob was pleasantly surprised that Shadegg hadn't been the staunch supporter. Until Rob learned about Shadegg's recent introduction of HR 5744 (called the SKIL Bill), that is.

The intent of HR 5744 is very obvious. Bill Gates, Craig Barrett (Intel) and the entire high-tech industry called this year for unlimited high-tech worker visas, and George Bush immediately jumped on board.

A huge H1B increase was included in S-2611 (another benefit that made it "comprehensive"), but with the likely stall of S-2611, corporations see their generous H1-B increase in danger. They don't care about illegal alien amnesty, and don't want their benefits sacrificed on the altar of "strict immigration enforcement."

Shadegg's standalone H1-B increase bill is Congress' attempt to satisfy corporate campaign donors. Introduced on June 29 2006, the text hadn't been posted on the congressional website when we visited Shadegg's office on July 5. So we were only sure of the provisions of the Senate version introduced by George Allen of Virginia, and that was the basis for Rob's commentary in Section D below.

ACTION TO OPPOSE H1-B INCREASE BILLS

HOUSE BILL 5744:
http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HR05744:

Contact your Congress member and express strong opposition to HR 5744 (SKIL Bill)
Find your congressman at www.house.gov and send an e-mail; then follow up with a toll-free phone to the Washington office (1-888-355-358.

The following 10 congress members have already co-sponsored HR 5744. If yours is one, ask them to withdraw their sponsorship.

John Shadegg, AZ K. Michael Conway, TX
John Campbell, CA Jeff Flake, AZ
John Doolittle, CA Michael McCaul, TX
Peter Hoekstra, MI John Shimkus, IL
Mike Pence, IN Mark Souder, IN
Todd Tiahrt, KS
http://cputah.org/html/h1-b_visas.html

This government is largely controlled by corporate America who appears to desire a rich/poor America. No country can afford to outsource jobs, ship all factories of hard goods to the third world while at the same time
import poor under educated people in great numbers. Simply there will be a breaking point. I don't know if it is greed or perhaps stupidity either way the middle class will lose.