[ale] A nation of the immigrants, by the immigrants, for the immigrants

[Greg]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Arafat Mohamed [mailto:amohamed at mail.totalemed.com]
> Sent: Monday, July 08, 2002 7:32 PM
> To: ale at ale.org
> Cc: discuss at charlug.org
> Subject: [ale] A nation of the immigrants, by the immigrants, for the
> immigrants
>
>
> I've been following this discussion with interest considering that I'm
> an immigrant (thankfully not on an H1b though).
>
> Just a few questions I had and was wondering what sort of answers I'd
> get. Not trying to be a troll here, just curious.
>
> How exactly do companies follow the law (as was posted earlier) in
> determining whether or not there are no qualified americans to fill the
> position? Is the law actually followed or is it just one of those things
> no one pays attention to?
>


Currently they do not.
That is problem #1. See
http://www.programmersguild.org/Guild/h1b/howtounderpay.htm
Problem #2 is that academic H1B's are not counted in the totals.
Problem #3 is that software companies et al are cozying up to Senator
Hollings & Abraham and others telling them that there is a shortage of IT
professionals in the US to the tune of tens of thousands if not hundreds of
**open and unfilled IT jobs**.  One of the docs (yeah, in doc format too) is
here:
http://www.programmersguild.org/Guild/h1b/library/it1_cappelli_wharton.doc .
Dunno where all of these jobs are, but not many of them seem to be in the
South East US.
Problem #4 is the foreign countries push in lobbying congress to get us
(read US) to train more of them via H1B.  One of the biggest body shops,
Tata, is also hip deep in the Indian nuclear program.
Problem #5  They depress the market wages to near slave rates.
Problem #6  The most sad and unjust reason - They are treated like
indentured slaves, contrary in spirit to the US Constitution (well, before
Ashcroft exempted foreigners from it any way).


> If the law as it stands is not being followed, will more legislation
> short of abolishing the H1-b program solve anything (I'm thinking gun
> control here)?
>

Yes, plain abolishment of the program is the best way.  If we need workers,
then we can legislate them back in, provided we cannot provide them.  There
is **NO** reason for any foreigners to be here during a recession. Other
countries take care of their own, and so should we.  Those wanting to be
citizens of the US are warmly welcomed as long as it is in a reasonable
manner - meaning if we can accommodate them and they will not be a "slave
class" to large companies.  Besides, it is just companies ways of trying to
get the benefits of taking the work overseas w/o the drawbacks.

> The last question I ask is for the benefit of some who wouldn't want the
> program completely abolished.
>
> Is the abolition supposed to be permanent or temporary? If permanent,
> what happens when the next labor shortage occurs?
>
> What happens to those that have to take their families back to their
> countries (which I'm  guessing are third world countries and therefore
> not the most desirable place to live)? Does America and her corporations
> owe anything to them?
>

I seriously doubt *ANY* company will have $0.01 USD of sympathy for them.
It would be *nice* if the government made their companies fly them and any
family back in first class, but they came to this country knowing the rules.
I seem to recall some countries only letting those in on visas if they had
an open ticket out of the country, but I could be mistaken. Dunno if it
applies here.

> Thanks,
> Arafat Mohamed
>
>
>
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