Posted on 12/06/2006 5:03:27 PM PST by fight_truth_decay
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins has sent letters to the heads of the U.S. Department of Labor and the Citizenship and Immigration Service, asking what their agencies have done to address problems in foreign-labor programs that were detailed in a recent Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram investigation.
Collins wrote in her capacity as chairwoman of the Senate's Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. It's the first official call for answers from federal authorities since the newspaper's series ran in late September.
The three-part series detailed concerns about the H1B visa program and the permanent green-card system. H1B visas let skilled foreign workers such as engineers, programmers and accountants work in the United States for three years, with a three-year extension. Green cards let foreigners live and work here indefinitely. "If the individuals that receive visas do not actually work at the company and the location listed on the visa applications, we have no assurance that the true purpose of the visa applicant is not to enter the U.S. to commit terrorist acts or to otherwise harm our citizens," Collins wrote in both letters.
She sent the letters Monday to Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao and Emilio T. Gonzalez, director of the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service in the Department of Homeland Security, and included copies of the newspaper series.
In its investigation, the newspaper cited government audits going back a decade that raised concerns about the Department of Labor's role in the foreign-labor certification process for the H1B visa program. The investigation showed that the department performed very little oversight of the program, and was seen as merely a "rubber stamp" by its own inspector general.
The newspaper found that dozens of high-tech staffing companies opened tiny offices or leased cubicles in Maine and other rural states in 2004 and early 2005 and filed immigration papers for thousands of foreigners who were supposed to work here. In many cases, the companies' connection to Maine was tenuous. In several instances, landlords had never heard of the companies that called their buildings home on federal applications.
"The H1B visa program was created to address the scarcity of qualified professional and technical workers in the United States, but with safeguards to mitigate potential harms to American workers and to protect foreign workers from exploitation," Collins wrote. "The effectiveness of these safeguards, however, is in question."
Ralph W. Wyndrum Jr., president of IEEE-USA, a leading professional association for engineers, said Collins is doing "a great service to the country" by highlighting what he called the misuse of H1B visas, particularly in smaller states.
"IEEE-USA is pleased that Congress is starting to realize that there are significant flaws in the H1B program, flaws that harm American workers, H1B visa holders and the U.S. economy," Wyndrum said in an e-mailed statement.
Collins posed several questions to Gonzalez and Chao: What efforts are made by the Immigration Service to uncover such "apparent acts of deception?"
What does the Immigration Service do in its processing of visa applications to determine that employers have "legitimate and substantial business operations at the address" listed on the applications?
What is the Labor Department doing to combat fraud, given the statutory division of responsibilities between that department and the Immigration Service?
How is the Labor Department addressing the conclusion that its certification is a "rubber stamp?" Immigration Service spokesman Christopher Bentley said the letter is a "private communication between Sen. Collins and Director Gonzalez."
"While the director will reply to the senator's letter, he will do so privately," Bentley said. "To discuss the letter publicly is inappropriate." Labor Department spokesman David James said the department and its office of Congressional Affairs had not yet received "any communication on this issue" from Collins' office.
James said the department's Employment and Training Administration is committed to fraud detection and prosecution. In trying to address concerns raised in the most recent GAO report on the H1B program, issued this summer, James said, the agency completed the implementation of computerized systems two months ahead of schedule.
Two of the system checks automatically compare the wage level cited on the application form to prevailing wage and state minimum wage tables, kicking out any applications that don't meet or surpass the wages. Another compares employer identification numbers written on the applications with IRS-issued numbers, kicking out potentially fraudulent ones.
As part of the investigation, the paper detailed the case of Narendra V. Mandalapa, president of Cybersoftec Inc. A federal grand jury indicted Mandalapa on May 5 on counts of immigration fraud, money laundering and mail fraud related to his applications for green cards. He has pleaded guilty to a single count of immigration fraud, and his sentencing is set for Jan. 22.
Cybersoftec had offices in Maine and New Hampshire that got more than 100 certifications for H1B visas in 2004 and 2005, claiming the states as the work sites for the requested positions. Essentially all of the Maine-based applications -- as with others nationwide -- were certified.
The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram spent six months investigating the processes for reviewing labor certifications and labor condition applications. Reporter Matt Wickenheiser:
Reviewed hundreds of green card labor certification application files, stored in banker boxes by the state.
Obtained 10 different H1B visa databases from the U.S. Department of Labor and created sortable spreadsheets.
Tracked down phone numbers and tried to contact roughly 150 foreigners who were working in the United States, after employers asked that they be granted visas or green cards through Maine.
Physically visited dozens of addresses in an attempt to verify that companies were still in the state. Tracked down property owners, to find out more about their tenants.
Called dozens of companies, interviewing them for more information on their Maine operations.
Read hundreds of pages of U.S. labor law, government audits and other documents.
Identified and interviewed participants in the system and former managers within it, outside experts familiar with the program, critics, company and industry executives who want to expand the visa and green card programs, and lawmakers.
ping
Bttt!
"The newspaper found that dozens of high-tech staffing companies opened tiny offices or leased cubicles in Maine and other rural states in 2004 and early 2005 and filed immigration papers for thousands of foreigners who were supposed to work here. In many cases, the companies' connection to Maine was tenuous. In several instances, landlords had never heard of the companies that called their buildings home on federal applications."
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Good for them, nice to see them get around the onerous burdens and regulations that government imposes on the private sector.
Why is there NO accountability from anyone in our government? There does not seem to be any compulsion by anyone to do what is expected of them and what they get paid for ... why?
"Why is there NO accountability from anyone in our government?"
That is why they go to work for the govt in the first place,
#1, they can't get fired
#2, they are not (held) responsible for anything.
"The H1B visa program was created to address the scarcity of qualified professional and technical workers in the United States, but with safeguards to mitigate potential harms to American workers and to protect foreign workers from exploitation," Collins wrote. "The effectiveness of these safeguards, however, is in question."
Oh really?
Just when did you notice THAT?
I wonder just how many of the citizens of this great country know that the Senate immigration reform bill will allow a 20% per year/per year increase in the number of H1-B visas?
In question you say?
Ping
Evidentally when MATT WICKENHEISER did his job as a reporter. However surprising also that The Portand Press Herald (from the Peoples Republic of Portand )even supported and reported this investigation.
My second thought was that this story was reported on Page 6.
One kind that I could always find would read something like this: Wanted: engineer with masters degree and five years experience. Salary $25,000."
I'd tell my students that when they saw an ad like that, they could be sure the company had already lined up some foreigner, and was going through the motions of proving to the Labor Department that "no American workers were available."
Message received today from NumbersUSA.com
"Do NOT entertain debate on Sen. Cornyn's H-1B bill. Oppose all increases in H-1B visas."
Capitol Switchboard
202-224-3121
By the time you wake up later this morning and read this, Sen. Cornyn (R-TX) will be well on his way to ramming through a bill to radically increase foreign workers in the tech, nursing, physical therapy, science and engineering fields.
Believe me, the only way to defeat this last-minute desperation attempt by Robber Baron Tech Corporations to keep wages low is if Senate offices are stunned today by the public outcry against this disreputable maneuver.
A swarm of Microsoft lobbyists -- surely reeking of the musty odor of giant wads of campaign contributions -- buzzed and stang their way through Senate offices Wednesday, demanding that they and others of their ilk be given hundreds of thousands more foreign workers next year.
Will you let them once again get their way at the very last minute of a Congress?
CALL YOUR U.S. SENATORS
I am asking you to call your own Senators on this matter.
Please call both of your Senators.
If you aren't sure about the identity of the two U.S. Senators, you can find your Senators and Representative by clicking on this link:
http://numbersusa.com/myMembers
Tell your Senators to NOT let Cornyn's bill come up on the floor for any kind of discussion.
in this email:
1. Call your two U.S. Senators
2. A key fact for your call
3. The short story of Sen. Cornyn's perfidy against American workers
To make a general comment or request tech help, click here and fill out our Help Form.
A KEY FACT FOR YOUR CALL
The United States has lost 700,000 high-tech American jobs in the past 4 years.
The country is awash in American tech workers who are now unemployed or working outside their field. While the tech lobbyists claim the companies face a labor shortage and won't be able to keep providing benefits to the economy without more foreign labor, there are plenty of skilled Americans available.
Same thing goes for nurses and physical therapists. Offer better pay for nursing and underemployed nurses will come out of the woodwork.
Each year, thousands of American students who qualify can't get into Physical Therapy schools because the schools feel no pressure to expand their enrollment while such a large percentage of physical therapy jobs are being filled by foreign therapists.
The message to Congress must be that it should NOT foreclose the future for our own American students who are seeking jobs in these fields.
The Short Story of Sen. Cornyn's Perfidy Against American Skilled Workers
Americans had been assured that the clock had already run out on this kind of sneak-pass play. Congress was supposed to be in town this week just to pass a Continuing Resolution to keep the federal government funded.
But tech industry lobbyists -- desperate to continue to hold down wages with foreign labor -- have stopped the legislative clock.
A near-football team of Microsoft blockers, tackles and fleet-footed lobbyists (10 of them!) roamed the Senate hallways Wednesday looking for a way score on their usual last-minute, rule-breaking, end-of-Congress style.
Many times in recent years, Microsoft and other tech lobbyists have sneaked through major increases in H-1B visas just as Congress was leaving town.
Since being publicly embarrassed in the late 1990s by debating the merits of this kind of legislation publicly, Congress has declined to pass these H-1B visa increases in the true light of day, with standard debate and using normal procedures.
But nearly all inside staffers told us they had received assurances from congressional leaders that no sneak play would be allowed this year.
On Tuesday, Senate staffers were stunned to see Sen. Cornyn suddenly emerge as the person willing to bring shame on himself by carrying the Robber Barons' water and force his pet project ahead of all others.
Then Tuesday afternoon, we got word that Cornyn was trying to ram his bill onto the Senate floor.
We were pleased that by late Tuesday, many of those Senators had placed "holds" on Cornyn's bill. But those holds tend to have power to only slow the process down for awhile and can be overcome if Senate leadership decides to do so. The word we had late Wednesday was that the "holds" were breaking as Microsoft's lobbyists gathered more support.
You are calling the congressional leaders just stop the bill from moving to the floor and to concentrate instead on spending bills.
Prof. Norm Matloff of the University of California has given this advice to tech professionals and engineers:
"Ask to speak to someone who handles immigration issues. Do NOT be long-winded. Keep it down to two or three sentences, something like 'I OPPOSE any increase to the H-1B program. The program is just used as cheap labor. Thank you.' If you are asked to elaborate ("Isn't it true that our schools aren't producing enough programmers and engineers?"), then do so, but otherwise keep it SHORT AND SIMPLE. And make sure they understand that you OPPOSE the H-1B increase (some of the staffers get it wrong)."
Dr. Matloff has done many papers showing that there is no shortage of programmers and engineers.
For much more information about this issue go to our page at:
www.numbersusa.com/interests/hightech.html
For me, the clincher in the debate is that the tech industry has resolutely fought any effort inside Congress to require that their solicitation of foreign workers be entirely public and transparent. If they truly need the workers, then they should not object to posting these jobs on a special internet website so that all Americans would first have the opportunity to apply for the jobs and then for that website to keep a record of each company that ends up hiring foreign workers, the number of workers for each company and a description of the
job duties and pay for each. This would expose a lot of the fraud that currently is in the program. But the tech companies want nothing of that kind of good-faith behavior.
Also the number of engineering students that stay within that course select dwindles big time before graduation. One might have 200 students electing electrical engineering and 20 might graduate with the degree, while the others moved into a less difficult study...perhaps political "science"? ;)
For example of employment: http://jobsearch.monster.com/jobsearch.asp?re=10&vw=d&pg=1&co=xtellabsx
Otherwise summer internship applied for now is a necessity..experience a priority in the "real world" of engineering, not choosing to take a summer job at Abercombie & Fitch, for reasons I do not need to elaborate on.
Contacts are very important. Summer internships move one further up the employment ladder.
Just my humble opinion.
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