Month: September 2021

Chamber Of Commerce Wins, Workers Lose

By Joe Guzzardi 

A George W. Bush federal judge appointee voided a Trump-era H-1Bregulation that switched the visa allocation system from a random selection lottery to a process that prioritizes higher-wage jobs. By putting emphasis on higher wages, tech employers would, President Trump hoped, be less likely to hire cheaper, foreign-born workers, and instead select more qualified overseas and American employees.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White, for the Northern District of California, Oakland Division granted the Chamber of Commerce’s (COC) motion for summary judgment, and permanently struck down the Trump-era changes to the H-1B visa. White’s ruling, based on his assessment that then-Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf was not lawfully serving in his role at the time, was a triumph for the Chamber and other cheap labor-addicted employers, and another setback for U.S. tech workers.

Chamber Vice President of Immigration Policy, Jon Baselice, called White’s ruling “…a major victory for American businesses and our economy. If implemented, the H-1B lottery rule would have denied many companies access to the talent they need to expand their operations and create American jobs.” COC is not the working man’s voice; the largest D.C. lobbyspent $30 million in 2021 often with the goal of keeping a steady cheap labor flow going to bolster American industries’ bottom line.

The COC’s lawsuit specifically brought up the issue that if the H-1B selection process prioritizes highest wages, then international students would be harmed because they are recent graduates and getting entry-level wages. The judge ignored that argument and decided to judge the case solely on the fact Chad Wolf was, in his view, illegally appointed as DHS Secretary.

President Trump’s goal aspired to raise the wages that employers would have to pay to H-1B visa holders, or optionally to hire from the unemployed, displaced U.S. tech worker pool. Early in his four-year term, President Trump signed his “Buy American, Hire American” executive order which, on January 21, Biden revoked. The Biden administration’s labor objective is the direct opposite of Trump’s. Biden proposed to increase employment-based visas, and eliminate the country cap which would open up jobs for foreign nationals, almost exclusively to Indians.

For decades, H-1B visas have been controversial. Supporters claim the visa holders are highly skilled, outperform U.S. tech workers, and without them, America would quickly become noncompetitive in the global market. Opponents allege that tech employers have abused the original intent of the visa to complement the existing American workforce and that as currently applied is unfair to both international and U.S. tech workers. The Economic Policy Institute’s Daniel Costa wrote that employers have “hijacked the system” by using between one-third to one-half of the H-1B visas to replace thousands of U.S. workers with “much-lower-paid H-1B workers while also sending tech jobs abroad.”

Lobbyists like the Chamber of Commerce argue, falsely, that U.S. tech workers aren’t available, and importing “the best and brightest” is essential. But employers aren’t legally required to recruit Americans or prove that they have a labor shortage before they hire H-1Bs who they can, also legally, underpay. Moreover, the employer chooses whether his employee receives Level 1 or Level 2 wages, the lowest, and the government doesn’t check unless the unlikely happens – workers file a lawsuit or a complaint. If and when a foreign national files a lawsuit, he risks that his employer, who controls his visa, could take steps to have him deported.

For more than 30 years, ample evidence has been presented to Congress that the H-1B harms U.S. tech workers. Nevertheless, tech employers, the Chamber of Commerce and immigration lawyers have consistently persuaded Congress – to U.S. tech workers’ detriment – that H-1B foreign-born employees are an indispensable cog necessary to keep the economy purring.

Ray Marshall from President Jimmy Carter’s administration put forward the most concise, critical, but accurate H-1B summation. Said Marshall, who as Labor Secretary understood the negative effect imported workers had on Americans: “One of the best con jobs ever done on the American public and political systems…. H-1B pays below market rate. If you’ve got H-1B workers, you don’t have to do training or pay good wages.” Marshall described the great deal employers and foreign-born workers get, but the raw deal for U.S. tech workers.

Joe Guzzardi is a Progressives for Immigration Reform analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org.

Chamber Of Commerce Wins, Workers Lose

Biden Haitian Deportations, Too Little, Too Late

By Joe Guzzardi 

The Biden administration announced the other week that it was beginning daily flights to return Haitian illegal immigrants from their makeshift shelters under Texas’ International Bridge. The first flights left Sept. 19. As many as 14,000 Haitians have arrived in Del Rio with the anticipation that, like thousands of other aliens who preceded them, they’ll be processed and admitted to the U.S. But, the rub – Haiti, recovering from a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that killed more than 2,000 people and damaged more than 100,000 homes, is unwilling to accept more than three flights a day.

Ironically, given that since Biden’s first day in office, he’s abdicated the chief executive’s responsibility to enforce immigration laws that Congress has passed, and previous presidents have signed, the administration’s official statement that returning the Haitians is “about border enforcement” rings hollow.

More probable is that the disconcerting images and videos of thousands of Haitians wading across the Rio Grande, then clustered in squalid, unsanitary conditions – with rumors of more on the way – caught the attention of The Washington Post and The New York Times. Their awareness led to what is, for those publications, a harsh appraisal of the administration’s border crisis mismanagement. After observing the sea of humanity at the bridge, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, a Republican whose district runs along the majority of the Texas border with Mexico, just north of the Rio Grande, said he thought he was in a third world country with literally no border – “it’s just been muddied over.” The administration may have concluded that it couldn’t afford to lose the establishment media’s immigration policy support.

An Associated Press story on the migrant airlift to Haiti predicted that no more than two planes would depart daily, a conclusion that’s probably the most optimistic possible outcome. Whether two or eight flights back to Haiti, Texas would still be left with thousands of Haitian migrants, as well as foreign nationals from 90 countries arriving daily to seek asylum or humanitarian protection. Thousands of Haitians arrived stateside before the earthquake hit.

Nowhere has Biden’s law-shirking been more evident than his feckless open border tolerance that’s gravely harmed several border states, none more so than Texas. To his credit, Gov. Greg Abbott with the Texas Department of Public Safety’s assistance launched “Operation Lone Star” to push back against unchecked illegal immigration, fentanyl trafficking that with Chinese money launderers’ helping hand has earned criminals billions of dollars, and human smuggling that too often leads to children sold into the sex trade. Abbott’s strategy to protect Texans came after his agreement to work with Biden on the closure of six Texas ports of entry to restore immigration enforcement collapsed.

Operation Lone Star will deploy air, ground, marine and tactical border security assets to high threat areas to deny Mexican Cartels and other smugglers the ability to move drugs and people into Texas. In a statement, Abbott said that because of Biden’s neglect, the southern border crisis continues to escalate. Abbott added: “Texas supports legal immigration but will not be an accomplice to the open border policies that cause, rather than prevent, a humanitarian crisis in our state and endanger the lives of Texans. We will surge the resources and law enforcement personnel needed to confront this crisis.” Abbott signed a $1.8 billion border security bill to increase immigration detention facilities, $750 million of which will be applied to a so-called border barrier that could include temporary chain fences and concrete barriers. This summer, Texas committed $250 million as a down payment for its version of the Trump border wall.

The Constitution, Article IV, Section 4, “guarantees to every state in this union” that “it shall protect each of them against Invasion.” With an anticipated 2 million illegal aliens who will surge the border this year, invasion is the proper word to describe conditions in the Rio Grande Valley, and other Texas entry points. The total illegal crossers include an estimated 40,000 COVID-19 positive aliens. Vaccinations are not mandated for these crossers, who are released into destinations across the nation. And in Texas, a record 10,800 unaccompanied minors entered. August was the second consecutive month that the Department of Homeland Security reported more than 200,000 illegal immigrant encounters.

Once released, aliens become the states’ responsibility – jobs training, housing, transportation, medical care, education – all the necessities that humans need to lead meaningful lives, but which taxpayers must underwrite. If the White House violates the Constitution, and refuses to protect Texas and the other 49 states against foreign incursion, then to safeguard its citizens, individual states must assume the responsibility to defend themselves.

Joe Guzzardi is a Progressives for Immigration Reform analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.com.

Biden Haitian Deportations, Too Little, Too Late