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Barack Obama may be Silicon Valley's last hope for immigration reform in 2014
Silicon Valley Business JOurnal ^ | June 30, 2014 | Lauren Helpler

Posted on 06/30/2014 9:46:00 PM PDT by Freedom56v2

resident Barack Obama may be Silicon Valley's last hope for swift action on stalled immigration reform efforts. A bill that would usher in new rules for both foreign-born tech talent and millions of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. has languished in the House of Representatives for months. On Monday, Obama was confronted with ominous news on the legislation after House Majority Leader John Boehner informed him that an existing immigration bill will not be brought to a vote by the end of 2014. “Last week he informed me that Republicans will continue to block immigration reform at least for the remainder of this year,” Obama said in a statement reported by Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call. The President added that “America cannot wait forever for them to act” and that he will do what he can “without Congress.” Exactly what that means for Silicon Valley and its tech companies that are hungry for immigrant technology is unclear. There has been talk in the past about the viability of using piecemeal executive orders to change some immigration rules, but whether Obama chooses to expend political capital on tech immigration issues — or whether he is even legally able to make any such changes without congressional approval — largely remains a question mark. The financial stakes for the region's tech industry are much easier to assess. Tech companies including Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Facebook Inc. have spent millions of dollars on expanded federal lobbying in recent years, including advocacy efforts on a range of immigration proposals designed to increase the number of skilled foreign workers that can be hired annually by U.S. firms through H-1B visas. A separate " startup visa" for aspiring international entrepreneurs is another policy item that has drift


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: h1bvisas; illegalimmigration; unemployment
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Thoughts on why the H-1B visa expansion proposal to quadruple foreign technology workers for jobs in Silicon Valley is linked to the proposal to provide amnesty to thousands of illegal immigrants.

I don't like either proposal--increasing H-1B Visas or granting amnesty to illegal immigrants, but I really dislike combining the issues..

1 posted on 06/30/2014 9:46:00 PM PDT by Freedom56v2
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To: bushwon

Eh, I forgot to check the excerpt box...more article at the site.


2 posted on 06/30/2014 9:47:12 PM PDT by Freedom56v2 (Had not seen most of this information. Julian Castro is up and coming star of democrat party....)
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To: bushwon

It appears as though Silicon Valley isn’t too impressed with American techies trained in American schools.


3 posted on 06/30/2014 9:47:54 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (The future must not belong to those who slander bacon.)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

“It appears as though Silicon Valley isn’t too impressed with American techies trained in American schools.”
________________________________________________________
And they expect illegal wetbacks from Mexico and Central America to fill the tech gap? Geee, who would have thunk it?


4 posted on 06/30/2014 9:53:06 PM PDT by AlexW
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To: AlexW
Yep, all of the illegals around here are working in the construction/lawn service/food service industries.

How that helps with high tech jobs is a mystery to me.

My son-in-law with HP tells me that there are lots of techies who are vastly over-qualified but can't find jobs as many tech companies prefer to hire foreigners, as they will work for less and not expect scads of benefits - plus the first questions they ask during job interviews are not how soon they can take some vacation!

5 posted on 06/30/2014 10:00:39 PM PDT by zerosix (Native Sunflower)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

Agreed that schools are not encouraging/training students for tech careers.

However,I just think there are many unemployed legal, US citizens who could be hired or retrained...

I think the tech giants don’t want to have to pay competitive wage. Are not workers here on H-1B visas beholden to the company that is sponsoring them?


6 posted on 06/30/2014 10:03:32 PM PDT by Freedom56v2 (Had not seen most of this information. Julian Castro is up and coming star of democrat party....)
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To: zerosix

My son-in-law with HP tells me that there are lots of techies who are vastly over-qualified but can’t find jobs as many tech companies prefer to hire foreigners, as they will work for less and not expect scads of benefits


Bingo!

Oh, and I think the issues are being combined to get the GOPe vote on immigration.


7 posted on 06/30/2014 10:06:10 PM PDT by Freedom56v2 (Had not seen most of this information. Julian Castro is up and coming star of democrat party....)
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To: bushwon

That’s a good point. One answer is this; notice how the left mixes legal and illegal “immigration” in terms?

They want to blur the lines.

We all know these tech companies truly don’t need that many foreigners to write basic code. They just don’t want to spend their money working to get Amercians into the tech market. They know they are lazy and stupid and our education system turns out morons.

Live by liberalism, die by liberalism.

It isn’t like they don’t move their tech support and writing to China or India already.

I’m supposed to worry about billionaires making more money?


8 posted on 06/30/2014 10:10:30 PM PDT by Fledermaus (Conservatives are all that's left to defend the Constitution. Dems hate it, and Repubs don't care.)
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To: bushwon
"...tech companies that are hungry for immigrant technology..."

What is immigrant technology? Sounds like something they could go to a store and buy.

9 posted on 06/30/2014 10:14:50 PM PDT by Waryone
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To: Fledermaus

That’s a good point. One answer is this; notice how the left mixes legal and illegal “immigration” in terms?

They want to blur the lines.

We all know these tech companies truly don’t need that many foreigners to write basic code. They just don’t want to spend their money working to get Amercians into the tech market. They know they are lazy and stupid and our education system turns out morons.


Another Bingo...mix and blur lines between legal and illegal immigration!!!!


10 posted on 06/30/2014 10:27:34 PM PDT by Freedom56v2 (Had not seen most of this information. Julian Castro is up and coming star of democrat party....)
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To: Waryone

“...tech companies that are hungry for immigrant technology...”
What is immigrant technology? Sounds like something they could go to a store and buy.


LOL Apparently journalism schools are too busy focusing on social justice and other left-leaning causes—not focusing on proper grammar!


11 posted on 06/30/2014 10:30:36 PM PDT by Freedom56v2 (Had not seen most of this information. Julian Castro is up and coming star of democrat party....)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

Silicon Valley wants cheap labor. Americans invented everything that made Silicon Valley great. The Bill Gateses of the world got theirs and now they want labor on the cheap - exactly like the railroad barons of the Gilded Age who pulled in cheap labor from around the world. If you know history those a$$holes were in tight with the government too. The difference now is that today’s a$$holes are operating in a welfare state with a fiat currency which means they can transfer the costs onto taxpayers. Americans after the Civil War often hated the railroads. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.


12 posted on 06/30/2014 10:44:04 PM PDT by WMarshal (Free citizen, never a subject or a civilian.)
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To: bushwon

With Silicon Valley’s desire for all the H1B visas, one would think that every IT and computer nerd in the country would be turning down work. However, that ain’t the case.

And I wonder how many out of work IT folks are supporters of the obama, the Dems and the eGOP? Because it seems like they’re the folks keeping you out of the workforce.


13 posted on 06/30/2014 10:53:30 PM PDT by qaz123
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To: qaz123

Could it be that the US nerds would want a better standard of living than a H1B?


14 posted on 06/30/2014 10:56:07 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: qaz123

Excellent observations!


15 posted on 06/30/2014 11:01:07 PM PDT by Freedom56v2 (Had not seen most of this information. Julian Castro is up and coming star of democrat party....)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Could it be that the US nerds would want a better standard of living than a H1B?


Another BINGO!!


16 posted on 06/30/2014 11:31:48 PM PDT by Freedom56v2 (Had not seen most of this information. Julian Castro is up and coming star of democrat party....)
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To: WMarshal

Very interesting observations! Thanks for your thoughts.
In some ways, it seems like you are defining crony capitalism in different terms.


17 posted on 06/30/2014 11:34:52 PM PDT by Freedom56v2 (Had not seen most of this information. Julian Castro is up and coming star of democrat party....)
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To: bushwon

There’s big money for Democrat political campaigns linked to his action on immigration, whatever that may be.

This is an election year.


18 posted on 06/30/2014 11:48:15 PM PDT by Nextrush (OBAMACARE IS A BAILOUT FOR THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY)
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To: Nextrush

Agreed..I guess what really bugs me is the REPUBLICANS SUPPORTING this...like Paul Ryan...and even Rand Paul to a lesser extent :(


19 posted on 06/30/2014 11:50:14 PM PDT by Freedom56v2 (Had not seen most of this information. Julian Castro is up and coming star of democrat party....)
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To: bushwon

I’m currently looking for something new after my last contract finished out (which was a lot shorter than what they dangled in front of me, and which I took in place of a possible longer term job — yeah contracting can stink the way you can get jerked around).

Well I can’t say I have heard NOTHING from Silicon Valley, but it’s been mighty quiet compared with the rest of the country.


20 posted on 07/01/2014 12:00:59 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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