Unions, tech firms gripe on immigrant bill
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Like politicians in Washington, Massachusetts business and labor leaders are finding plenty to gripe about in the proposed overhaul of America's immigration laws.
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Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) joined a chorus of immigrant advocacy groups in condemning the Bush administration's plan to charge legal immigrants significantly more money to obtain green cards, adjust their residency status and bring relatives to the United States.
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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO this week separately assailed a new White House-backed crackdown on illegal immigration, warning of massive disruptions to the economy and headaches for U.S. citizens if the proposal goes ahead as planned in the coming days.
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Some say strict measures endanger ecosystems, but others say those concerns are excuses for pro-immigrant sentiment
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(InfoWorld) - Two IT trade groups, as well as Microsoft, expressed disappointment after the U.S. Senate failed to move ahead with a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would include a higher annual cap on visas for highly skilled workers. In a vote Thursday, the Senate failed to cut off debate on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act and move the bill forward for a vote. The bill, which critics say provides amnesty to illegal aliens living in the United States, also would have expanded exemptions to the cap on the controversial H-1B visa program, a move supported by many tech vendors. The bill would increase the annual H-1B cap from 65,000 to 115,000 and exempt all foreign students who have earned a master's degree or higher from a U.S. university from the annual cap. Right now, there's a 20,000 annual limit on exemptions for students with master's degree and higher. The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), a trade group, called on the U.S. Congress to move ahead with legislation addressing only high-skilled visas, including H-1Bs and EB "green card" visas, not other immigration issues. The ITAA was "tremendously disappointed" by the Senate's failure to move the bill forward, ITAA president and CEO Phil Bond said in a statement. "Our own immigration system is restricting America's ability to compete, to grow, and to prosper," Bond said. "Congress must find a way to remove this chokehold." The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) said it was "profoundly disappointed" in the Senate's action. Without the immigration bill, the U.S. "high-tech industry will be challenged to find the skilled workers it needs and therefore put at a significant disadvantage to its global competitors," SIIA President Ken Wasch said in a statement. CompaniesÂ such asÂ Microsoft will be hurt by the failure to pass the bill, said Pamela Passman, the company's vice president for global corporate affairs. Comprehensive immigration reform is "desperately needed," she said in a statement. U.S.-based tech worker groups such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA (IEEE-USA) have opposed a higher H-1B cap, arguing that companies use the program to hire foreign workers for less money than unemployed U.S. workers would receive. This month, a video surfaced on the Internet showingÂ lawyers talking about how to cheat the skilled-worker visa system.
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The US Senate voted on Tuesday to resurrect a bitterly divisive immigration bill, but the last-ditch effort to offer legal status to 12 million illegal immigrants still faced huge obstacles.
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Two IT trade groups, as well as Microsoft, expressed disappointment after the U.S. Senate failed to move ahead with a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would include a higher annual cap on visas for highly skilled workers.
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The US Congress takes up Tuesday a divisive bill balancing border security and the documentation of 12 million illegal aliens, in a make-or-break debate that could scuttle immigration reform until after the 2008 presidential election.
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President Bush went to Capitol Hill today to persuade his own party to move forward on immigration legislation that he said enforces U.S. borders and workplaces. Republicans opposing the bill say it amounts to amnesty for people who entered the country illegally. "I believe without the bill, it's going to be harder to enforce the border," Bush said. "The status quo is unacceptable."
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A controversial immigration bill suffers a setback in the US Senate, as a bipartisan deal threatens to unravel.
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Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.), chairman of the House federal workforce subcommittee, is increasingly skeptical of pay-for-performance systems in the federal government. He's also a little frustrated.
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Proposals in France to tighten entry conditions for immigrants' relatives are to be debated by MPs.
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(InfoWorld) - It appears that the STRIVE (Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy) Act of 2007 isn't quite dead after all. On Thursday, the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees Border Security, and International Law convened and on its first day took written statements from witnesses on the bill. The comprehensive immigration bill that caused such a furor earlier this year, mainly over the issue of whether it was offering amnesty to illegal immigrants, also addressed the H-1B visa cap. The cap, now set at 65,000, with an additional 20,000 reserved for foreign workers who have a graduate degree from a U.S. institution, would be raised to 115,000 for 2008 with a stipulation that it would go up an additional 20 percent each year that the quota was met, with a final cap of 180,000 visas issued. At the hearing, STRIVE Act cosponsor Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona did not specifically bring up the issue of H-1B, but he did say that the STRIVE Act "addresses the failures and problems with past worker programs." Countering Flake's premise, Julie Kirchner, the government relations director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform said, "These provisions are a serious threat to high-tech workers in the U.S., including legal immigrants who have patiently waited their turn to take part in the American dream." In total, there were a dozen witnesses submitting written statements, but the others did not address the issue of the H-1B visa cap.
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Foreigners could have a harder time  seeking asylum in the United States and illegal immigrants  would be barred from getting drivers licenses under a bill  approved on Thursday by the U.S. House of Representatives.
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(InfoWorld) - Alumni of a major Indian university want the U.S. Congress to take separate action to passÂ H-1B visaÂ legislation that went down with the immigration reform bill thatÂ failed in CongressÂ last week. Members of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) alumni association, meeting for a three-day conference in Santa Clara, California, said Friday that they are hoping to get a separate vote on an immigration bill provision that would increase the number of visas granted to highly skilled engineers coming from abroad to work at U.S. technology companies. "Almost as soon as the bill died, there was talk of piecemeal moves to get parts of that bill passed," said Umang Gupta, chairman and CEO of Keynote Systems, a company that measures the technical performance of Web sites. He's also chairman of the board of PAN IIT, the alumni group hosting the conference, which has drawn close to 4,000 people. The legislation would increase the limit of H-1B visas to be granted every year to 115,000 from 65,000 today. Backers say the extra visas are needed because there aren't enough qualified U.S. engineers to do the work U.S. companies need done. Opponents say the visas just make it possible for U.S. companies to hire foreigners at lower wages than they would have to pay U.S. hires. The legislation would also continue to allow 20,000 visas per year to applicants who have advanced degrees from U.S. colleges and universities. Today, about half of the graduates of U.S. engineering schools are non-Americans, many of whom have to return to their home countries to find work when they should be allowed to work here and contribute to U.S. economic growth, said Pradeep Khosla, dean of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. "The day this country limits the free flow of skilled immigrants coming into this country, that's the day we start going downhill," said Khosla. Another IIT alum, Yogen Dalal, managing director at Mayfield Fund, a venture capital firm, noted that in the early 1990s, some in Silicon Valley thought they would be overcome by the Japanese. But the success of valley companies like Google and Apple, which introduced its iPhone a week ago, shows it remains a center for innovation. "Wealth is being created by innovation right here in [Silicon Valley]. Economic value is being created here. The work force is just being redistributed," Dalal said. The H1-B discussion is happening against the backdrop of the loss of thousands of jobs in recent years, particularly in Silicon Valley, as companies outsourced work to lower-wage markets in countries like India. But as more work is done in India,Â wage inflationÂ has begun to narrow the pay gap between India and the U.S. And in some cases, Indian companies have begun moving jobs to the U.S., said Arjun Malhotra, chairman and CEO of Headstrong, an outsourcing consulting firm. "If you look at the issue today, it's not outsourcing, it's global sourcing. You go to wherever the best resources are available to do that job," said Malhotra. The Indian Institute of Technology was created in 1950, three years after India gained its independence from Great Britain. It has about 100,000 alumni, 25,000 of whom live and work in the U.S.
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The U.S. government's plan to use RFID chips in a proposed passport card program for U.S. citizens is drawing fire from certain groups concerned it could undermine security and privacy.
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A top lawmaker assailed the US Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program today, following a staff investigation of the $10 billion homeland security project.