A hearing today illustrates why tech groups are blocked on this issue
June 12, 2008 (Computerworld) WASHINGTON -- When U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) led a U.S. House hearing today on bills that would make it easier for highly educated foreign tech workers to stay in the U.S., she had almost everything she needed to make her case. Underscore the word almost.
At the hearing, Lofgren's legislative effort was backed by the leading professional engineering group, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE-USA); the Semiconductor Industry Association; and an academic group, the Association of International Educators.
What Lofgren didn't have was the support of everyone on her Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees, Border Security and International Law.
"I think we should give the high-tech industry the innovators they need," said fellow committee member Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.). But what do lawmakers tell foreign workers who labor on farms and apply pesticides -- that "you're not really smart?"
Gutierrez called farm workers "just as critical and relevant to the innovation of that industry" as tech workers are to IT innovation. And he urged the committee to take a "holistic approach" to immigration so that the most vulnerable "are not stigmatized by actions of the Congress."
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9097578&intsrc=hm_listInteresting comments:
Employing fear, uncertainty and doubt to justify H1-B expansion is pathetic. Fear that IT can't hire qualified personnel; uncertainty as to availability of US graduates with requisite skills; and doubt that IT can pursue "innovation" without H-1B.
"What unmitigated clap-trap! With the "reductions in force" (RIFs) over the past years, I personally know many IT professionals in the market who MAY get interviews, and be willing to take lower salaries, but don't get jobs that subsequently go to "noncitizens."
We hear how colleges/universities are not developing US citizens as engineers, or professionals, to move into IT. Well, if you were pursuing a higher degree at great expense, would you seek a degree in a field where your own government works hand-in-hand with corporations to ensure that the jobs in that field are only available to noncitizens, or off shore staff?
Until our own federal legislators refuse to be "bought off" by big business and pretend that there are no US citizens qualified to fill IT positions, nothing will change. It is time the voting public took a very close look at how their respective senators and congressmen voted, and to "reward" them the next time they had to stand for re-election."