"We have been denying visas to these people at much higher rates in some scheme to combat illegal aliens and have been pushing them back offshore when they get their degrees."
You don't have a clue what you are talking about.
I work in high-tech. There is NO shortage of qualified people in the US. If you want evidence of that, look at the figures for tech people who have been laid off the last few years and have had to leave the high-tech field altogether. The numbers are very high, and that proves that there are people out there who could work but aren't able to find work.
You might say that those people don't have the right skills. But that doesn't wash, either, because it's generally alot cheaper to train experienced people in some new skill than to get rid of them and find someone else.
The issue is all about money. Companies use layoffs to get rid of higher paid employees, then bring in H-1B visas to fill those positions. I've seen this happen time and time again. And if that's what it takes for American business to succeed in a global marketplace then they should just say so instead of complaining about not being able to find enough tech workers.
Of course, at some point, the tech industry will have to get used to the idea of declining wages. That's the nature of the global marketplace. The truth is that the tech workers have been priced out of the job market because of global competition, but no one wants to take a lower salary to do the same job so it's easier just to bounce them out the door and hire immigrants.
BTW, the H1-B visa program is little more than an indentured servanthood situation. If you lose your job at the company which is sponsoring you then you can get deported within 30 days if you don't find another one willing to sponsor you (getting another sponsor is not simple). Hence, those people get abused because the employers know that the people can never quit.
My point is that we once had a near monopoly on brains. We are pushing those brains offshore and out of employment by American companies. Yes, it seems to keep the compensation for engineers below the stratosphere but it also keeps the markets for those engineers in this country.Those brains taking their education offshore or being forced offshore after getting their degrees here will keep those salaries "depressed" just as well because the market is, indeed worldwide. Were it not most American engineers would be doing something else instead. American techies are competing with Germans and Russians and Indonesians whether they come here to work or not.