Round 2: H-1B Battle: American engineers vs. President Bush!

It hurts to get slapped across the face by the most powerful man in the world, but American engineers are not down and out yet.  At the very opening moment of round 2, President Bush comes out swinging; knocking down any argument American engineers and other high-skilled professionals might have against H-1B immigration laws.

The president fired the first salvo in the 2007 H-1B Battle, telling selected employees of Dupont that he feels strongly that America needs to raise the cap on H-1Bs.  Here is the exact excerpt:

...As an aside, when I talked about the immigration bill last night, I also want you to know I understand that we need to make sure that when a smart person from overseas wants to come and work in DuPont, it's in our interests to allow him or her to do so. We've got to expand what's called H1B visas. I know the Senator and the Congressman understand that. I'm looking forward with Congress to do just that. It makes no sense, by the way -- I know, I'm getting off topic here -- (laughter) -- but I feel strongly about what I'm telling you. It makes no sense to say to a young scientist from India, you can't come to America to help this company develop technologies that help us deal with our problems. So we've got to change that, as well, change that mind set in Washington, D.C. I know we can work together on that.

It is obviously on the president's mind.  Raising the cap on H-1B visas is also on the minds of tech company executives and American engineers who are in an all out battle over H-1B immigration.  The battle will be won or lost in the details of the upcoming immigration reform bill.  It will be a three-part battle --  the House version of the bill, the Senate version of the bill, and the version that the President will sign.  And it is the responsibility of every American citizen to convey their concerns to their elected representatives, if they want to be represented fairly in the debate.

Technical organizations, concerned media and ordinary citizens are already beginning to fight back.   They must convince the president and congress that it makes sense to reform the H-1B visa program.

All The President’s Men

Stepping into the ring, Lou Dobbs fired back at the president’s administration by exposing a suspicious report by the USCIS.   Just as the Washington Post did, CNN is bucking the trend of apathetic news outlets and allowing their star reporters to run with stories they believe in.  Like Woodward and Bernstein (Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman), Lou Dobbs is bravely reporting perceptions of corruption in our government.  There may even be some clandestine meetings under parking garages.   After all, only congressional members had access to this report.  Nowadays, it was probably just an anonymous email, but it’s much more intriguing to believe there were some chiaroscuro conversations.

Lou Dobbs exposed a complete lack of enforcement of H-1B caps by the federal government for the last 2 years.  According to the USCIS report, over 75,000 additional H-1B visas were issued above the cap during 2004 and 2005.  He openly challenged Congressmen, Senators and the President to enforce our laws.  He posed the questions:

      1) Why was the report released on November 20th, 2006,
      immediately after the last election?
      2) Why was his report not made available to the public?
      3) Why aren’t guest worker Visa caps being enforced?
      4) Why does neither Congress nor the executive branch fulfill
      their constitutional duties?

These good questions lead to the bigger question of who is responsible for enforcing these laws?

The Director of the USCIS, Dr. Emilio T. Gonzalez, was appointed by President Bush.  It is his responsibility to follow the H-1B visa laws.

The USCIS sends the report to Homeland Security. The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security is Michael Chertoff, who was also appointed by President Bush.  It is his responsibility to ensure that no person looking to do terrorist acts and other harm enter the country.  Critics contend that performing background checks for hundreds of thousands of H-1B visa holders is impossible.

Members of Congress receive the report from the USCIS and are responsible for releasing the report to the public.  Now that the report has been released to Congress (but not yet to the public), only time will tell if any actions will be taken.  Most Republican and Democratic members of Congress have historically been in favor of expanding H-1B visas.  Last election, however, voter rebellion over immigration reform cost many of them their jobs.  As the immigration battle heats up, it will be interesting to see on which side of the aisle they stand.   Future blogs will list scorecards showing how each Congressman and Senator voted.  For years they were oblivious to H-1B problems, but now Congress is beginning to reconsider.  New leaders, such as Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), are taking a stand against the H-1B expansion.

So who is responsible?  The GAO has expressed concerns about this very issue.  Here is an excerpt from their latest report:

Labor, Homeland Security, and Justice all have responsibilities under the H-1B program, but Labor and Homeland Security could better address the challenges they face in sharing information. After Labor certifies an application, Homeland Security’s USCIS reviews the information but cannot easily verify how many times the employer has used the application. Also, USCIS staff told us that, during their review, they may find evidence that employers are not meeting their H-1B obligations. However, current law precludes the Wage and Hour Division from using this information to initiate an investigation of the employer. In addition to Homeland Security, Labor also shares enforcement responsibilities with Justice, which pursues charges filed by U.S. workers who allege that they were not hired, or were displaced, so that an H-1B worker could be hired instead.

Labor and Homeland Security Coordinate to Process Employers’ Requests to Hire H-1B Workers, but Do Not Use Certain Information to Investigate Possible Violations:  Homeland Security’s USCIS reviews Labor’s certified application as part of the adjudication process; however, it lacks the ability to easily verify whether employers have submitted petitions for more workers than originally requested on the application. Labor can certify applications for multiple workers and, therefore, employers can use one application in support of more than one petition. However, USCIS’ data system, CLAIMS 3, does not match each petition to its corresponding application because the system does not include a field for the unique number Labor assigns each application. As a result, USCIS cannot easily verify how many times the employer has used a given application or which petitions were supported by which application, potentially allowing employers to use the application for more workers than they were certified to hire.

Does that clear it up?  Looking past the bureaucratic fog, it seems obvious that there are indeed H-1B abuses which have not been investigated by the government for one reason or another.

This news report did not hurt the tech companies very much because the real power is in the President’s administration.  It doesn’t look like American engineers can possibly win this fight.  What hope do they have when the president feels that “we’ve got to expand what’s called H1B visas”, his administration does not enforce the current H-1B cap, and Congress is undecided on the issue?  Against the odds, they are forced to fight back.

Engineers can express their views and experiences to Congress and the president in a variety of ways.  Most politicians only hear the lobbyists, but everyone interested can go to their representative’s website and post a comment stating their views.  They can also write emails to editors of online news media, requesting more coverage of the issue.  More now than ever in American history, regular citizens can help shape the debate.

Shape the Debate

On March 13th and 14th, 2007, IEEE members will be meeting members of the 110th Congress in the "Fourth Annual IEEE-USA Career Fly-In".  Engineers will have the opportunity to discuss the H-1B issue with lawmakers.  IEEE members and officers will attempt to convey the deleterious effect that abuse of the H-1B program has had on the engineering profession.   They must also convey the benefits of the program and the many fine engineers who have become citizens as a result of it.  They should encourage enforcement of the current laws and an investigation into past abuses.

There are many new and renewed members of Congress who are eager to hear from America’s best and brightest.  It is in every engineer’s interest to join IEEE and other organizations to become involved in the debate.  So far the conversation has been controlled by studies paid for by special interest groups representing technology companies.

What affects the engineers of today, affects the engineers of tomorrow. Today, American students who yearn to learn mathematics and science are discouraged to do so. Why should anyone study so hard for a career that is in dire jeopardy?

Over the last several years, university engineering enrollment has plummeted as engineering opportunities have dissipated.  Anyone who feels that their children should be encouraged to study math and science should voice their concern over this issue.

There are also serious national security concerns.  It is widely known that Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations are attempting to use loopholes in our immigration laws to slip in those who wish to do harm to our country.  Mohamed Atta was here on a student visa.  It does not take a writer from "24" to imagine how much damage engineers sponsored by terrorist organizations can do to this country.   Most applicants are rubber-stamped completely by USCIS, and tracking over 900,000 visas is nearly impossible for Homeland Security.  Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), the outgoing chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security has raised serious concerns over the program.  It's worth noting that nuclear bombs are created by nuclear engineers, biological weapons are created by biology and chemical engineers, triggering mechanisms are designed by electrical engineers, hacking is performed by software engineers, and methods used to demolish buildings are developed by civil engineers.  If all of this seems too overwhelming, take heed,  there is something the average citizen can do.

Most Americans are getting tired of watching our beloved democracy become a plutocracy and they are doing something about it, voting.

VOTE!

Voting is the most powerful tool that Americans have to influence politicians.  For the last decade or so, getting votes meant raising campaign contributions.  With those funds, politicians advertised themselves in the media (television, print, and billboards), the same as a breakfast cereal would be.  So the more money they got, the more commercials they would play and the more votes they would get and so on.  Through campaign contributions and soft money, corporate America slowly took control of American politics to the detriment of U.S. citizens.   Once our representatives realize that their constituents feel strongly about the H-1B issue, they will begin to discuss the program openly and honestly on the floor and in committees.  All that engineers can ask for is a fair fight.

Disclaimer: H-1B's best and brightest

When used properly H-1B visas can be very good for America. Americans are pro-immigration as long as they do not face massive layoffs as a result.  At the beginning of the H-1B program, the engineers who came here were extremely bright, pro-American, and wanted to become assimilated citizens.  The H-1B program is considered a guest-worker program but every visa holder wanted to become a full citizen if possible.  These were mostly engineers with Masters degrees and Ph.D.s, many of whom have spent years teaching at American universities.  They were welcomed and appreciated. 

Currently, there are over 900,000 H-1B visa holders in the United States, the majority of whom are fresh B.S.E.E. graduates with average technical skills, and some with extremely below average social skills.  It is in our best interest to accept those with advanced degrees such as Masters and Ph.D.s, those who've graduated at the top of their undergraduate classes and those who've demonstrated an ability to assimilate into American society.  If this was the case, the current cap of 85,000 per year may even be difficult to reach. 

This fight is NOT between American engineers and H-1B engineers.  Tech companies have abused American engineers by replacing them with H-1B engineers, but they have also abused the very same H-1B visa holders.  H-1Bs are paid less, asked to work free overtime, cannot easily change jobs, and have the constant Damoclean Sword of deportation if they get fired.  In addition, law firms and job shops such as Wipro take large portions of their salary for doing paperwork.  Plus there are many other visa loops they and their families have to jump through just to stay in America.  With proper H-1B reform, the quality of life for H-1B holders should dramatically improve.

Scorecard

In case you're keeping score, Round 1 was won by the engineers and the middle-class when an increase to the H-1B cap was averted in the last moments of the 2006 session of congress.  It was a hollow victory, however, because it turned out that the cap was not enforced for the last 2 years anyway, which effectively increased the cap by an additional 75,000 visas.  In layman's terms, they won the round but the judges ruled against them.

Round 2 was easily won by the tech companies.   Regardless of what Lou Dobbs exposes, the President has the ultimate pen-power of signing the immigration reform bill into law.  If engineers cannot convince the president to change his views, all may be lost.  There is little evidence of the President ever changing his mind, but members of Congress who are concerned about the next election, may take a closer look at it.  So it's still anybody's battle to win. 

Stay tuned for more fight coverage to come.