5 shocking examples of H-1B visa program abuse; How they are causing mass layoffs in America

CIO ^ | 07/09/2015 | By Sharon Florentine, CIO

[SeekAndFind]

The H-1B visa program was designed to encourage highly skilled foreign workers to put down roots in the U.S. and spur innovation. However, many IT firms are twisting the intent of the program, and using it to hire inexperienced workers at lower pay. Here are five highly publicized instances of H-1B visa abuse.

Companies claim there just aren't enough highly skilled IT workers in the U.S. to fill the number of available tech jobs. Perhaps what they really mean is that there aren't enough highly skilled U.S. IT workers willing to work for lower wages and zero benefits. While there is a skills gap, it doesn't explain why some companies are using the H-1B visa program to hire inexperienced foreign workers at lower pay to replace currently employed citizens. Here are the five most highly publicized instances of H-1B visa program abuse.

1. Southern California Edison/ Los Angeles

Beginning in August 2014, Southern California Edison began replacing approximately 400 IT employees with a smaller, lower-paid workforce brought in from overseas through the H-1B program, according to Computerworld's Patrick Thibodeau, who has reported extensively on this issue. The original employees, who were forced to train their replacements as well as sign nondisclosure agreements and gag orders, were making an average of about $110,000 a year. The replacements were brought to Southern California Edison by outsourcing firms Infosys and Tata, and were paid an average of between $65,000 and $75,000, according to depositions in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing spurred by complaints about the practice.

2. Disney (well, sort of)

The happiest place on earth made headlines when it announced in October 2014 it was laying off many of its IT workers and replacing them with outsourced talent. The firm attempted to spin the move as a "restructuring" that would increase innovation and allow U.S. workers easier access to management and leadership positions. As in the case of Southern California Edison, Disney IT employees also were responsible for training their replacements. Perhaps because of the headlines and the public outcry surrounding the, uh, 'restructuring,' Disney announced in June 2015 it was rescinding the layoffs and canceling its plans to outsource those jobs.

3. Pfizer Connecticut R&D

In 2008, workers at pharmaceutical giant Pfizer's New London and Groton (Connecticut) research and development campus raised the alarm: They were being replaced by Indian workers on H-1B visas and forced to train their replacements. Those outsourced workers were scheduled to return to India, where they will run the same systems as their U.S. counterparts, albeit at a cheaper rate and with diminished benefits. The move was part of an outsourcing agreement signed in 2005 between Pfizer, Infosys Technologies and Satyam Computer Services.

4. Molina Healthcare

In 2010, Molina Healthcare announced it was laying off much of its staff. The announcement took place on the same day the U.S. government approved forty H-1B visa applications for the company; a lawsuit and legal battle ensued. The suit alleged that the fired employees, all of whom were U.S. citizens or green card holders, were fired as a cost-cutting measure so they could be replaced by cheaper, less-experienced foreign workers, according to the Boston Globe. The fired Molina employees were earning an average of $75,000 a year, plus benefits; the new workers, brought over to work on H-1B visas, earned $50,000, with no benefits.

5. Infosys and Tata

Noticed a pattern, yet? The same large outsourcing firms keep cropping up in relation to these scandals. As Ron Hira, an Economic Policy Institute research associate and an associate professor of public policy at Howard University outlines in this blog for the Economic Policy Institute:

"These two India-based IT firms specialize in outsourcing and offshoring, are major publicly traded companies with a combined market value of about $115 billion, and are the top two H-1B employers in the United States. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2013, Infosys ranked first with 6,269 H-1B petitions approved by the government, and Tata ranked second with 6,193 … these leading offshore outsourcing firms use the H-1B program to replace American workers and to facilitate the offshoring of American jobs … they don't use the H-1B visa as a way to alleviate a shortage of STEM-educated U.S. workers; they use it primarily to cut labor costs."

[Liz]

ACTION NOW Contact your Representative and Senators
Capitol Switchboard 1-866-220-0044

FIRE DHS SECY JEH JOHNSON---failure to protect ntl security
FIRE LEON RODRIGUEZ USCIS head---mismanaging visa enforcement

============================================

AUDIT DHS AUDIT DHS AUDIT DHS AUDIT DHS
We demand to know where the money is going.

=========================================

Homeland Security seeks $41.2 billion budget for 2016
February 4, 2015 By BioPrepWatch Reports

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced a $41.2 billion budget request Monday for the 2016 fiscal year.

The budget would improve the unity of effort at the department, Johnson said, focusing on harmonizing DHS business processes. Along with the budget, a new Common Appropriations Structure was also submitted to Congress, which would standardize financial planning, programming and budgets for all DH agencies, Johnson said.

There are five areas the department focuses on each year, and the budget is in alignment with those five missions, Johnson said.

<><> The first mission is to prevent terrorism and enhance security in the country by implementing security for the land, air and at sea.

<><> The next mission is to secure and manage the countrys borders, and reduce the number of illegal immigrants and amount of contraband getting into the United States.

<><> The third mission includes enforcing and administering immigration laws and providing safe and secure detention of illegal immigrants in federal custody if they are a flight risk or a public safety concern.

<><> The fourth mission deals with safeguarding and securing cyberspace, which impacts economic security. The 2016 budget would invest in technology and staff to reduce cybercrime and improve the security of federal network defenses.

<><> The fifth mission, Johnson said, is to strengthen national preparedness and resilience so the country can prepare and respond to any type of disaster.

Johnson said before Congress approves any funding for the next fiscal year lawmakers should approve funding for the current year.

The Presidents FY 2016 Budget provides the resources necessary for the Department of Homeland Security to further strengthen our efforts to fulfill our wide-ranging missions, while also being agile and vigilant in the face of ever-evolving threats and recent world events, Johnson said. But prior to acting on the FY 2016 Budget, I urge Congress to fully fund DHS for the rest of this fiscal year, as the current continuing resolution is disruptive, creates uncertainty, and impedes efficient resource planning and execution.

SOURCE http://bioprepwatch.com/news/homeland-

[Wolfie]

Yeah, but those of us who still have jobs get stuff for cheaper, so it all balances out.

[GraceG]

H1B is so abused....

Why hire one competent American when you can hire 4 incompetent route memory Indians from India who can do 1.5 times the work...

At some point I may just finish paying off my house and go on the “dole” because seriously, why play by the rules of the rules keep getting yourself screwed over...

[jacknhoo]

EXCLUSIVE– Attorney For Displaced Disney Workers: Rubio A ‘Liar’ Appeasing ‘His Corporate Donors’

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/25/exclusive-attorney-displaced-disney-workers-rubio-liar-appeasing-corporate-donors/

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) today presented an amendment to the Gang of Eight immigration bill that would improve our nation’s legal immigration system by increasing high-skilled temporary worker visas, called H-1B visas, by 500 percent.

http://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=137

[servantboy777]

Happening at my corporation as well...big time.

Major computer company.

[CodeToad]

Well, what do we expect from corporations that are run by liberal arts majors??

[Liz]

Those protecting Americans from terrorists TAKE THE BRUNT of Boobamba's hate-America saga.....

Obama threatens stopping paychecks to 143,000 Homeland Security employees.....include 40,000 employed by Customs and Border Protection, 50,000 Transportation Security Administration screeners, 13,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and 40,000 Coast Guard personnel.

Yet, Boobamba's hand-picked DHS-USCIS facototums are paid to hand out visas to individuals seeking the overthrow of the US govt. Read on.

==================================================

In a circa 2012 statement, Sen Charles Grassley (Rep-Iowa) exposed the DHS-USCIS visa program----ICE identified key vulnerabilities in EB-5 visas

1) Export of sensitive technology/economic espionage.

2) Use by foreign government agents/espionage.

3) Use by terrorists.

4) Investment fraud by regional center.

5) Investment fraud by investors.

6) Fraud conspiracies by investors and regional center.

7) Illicit finance/money laundering.

=========================================================

Obama's hand-picked henchman, USCIS' Leon Rodrigues, oversees EB-5 visas. Under Obama/Rodrigues' purview---EB-5's are said to involve major threats to US national security:

NEED TO KNOW----ARE OBAMA/RODRIGUES SELLING US CITIZENSHIP TO:

<><> (a) MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS,

<><>(b) ISIS TERRORISTS,

<><> (c) FOREIGNERS SEEKING THE OVERTHROW OF THE US GOVT.

=============================================

Rodriguez's confirmation hearings revealed he was a board member of Casa Maryland---a Third World pressure group pushing for unlimited immigration on behalf of foreign governments. Rodrigues also has connections to foreign pressure groups across the nation.

=================================================

FREEPER ACTION--CONTACT FBI TIPS PAGE WEB SITE---YOU MAY REMAIN ANONYMOUS---https://tips.fbi.gov

<><> Taxpayers demand Rodriguez, USCIS, Casa Maryland, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, La Raza, and other foreign pressure groups, be investigated.

<><> Supboena official filings, phone records, emails, snail mail copies, hard drives, bank accounts, checking accounts, credit cards, debit cards, wire transfers, social media contacts, and the like.

<><> Taxpayers demand to know if govt factorum Leon Rodriguez, and the aforementioned tax-funded groups, (1) are consorting with violent organizations advocating the overthrow of the US govt, (2) and/or are paid agents of foreign governments.

<><> TAXPAYERS demand to know who these people are communicating with, and who is directing their activities.

[Rashputin]

See, there are good reasons why Ted Cruz wants a 500% increase in the number of such Visas.

[baltimorepoet]

Yeah, but those of us who still have jobs get stuff for cheaper, so it all balances out.

If prices are truly determined by supply and demand, then the companies riding the cheap labor express can still charge the same price and just pocket the difference.

Then the people who are unemployed or have crappy jobs spend less money buying from the companies employing the people who still have jobs.

It is a death spiral, just like in the Great Depression.

[Tammy8]

Yes most of the jobs in recent years have gone to immigrants, both legal and illegal.

[clamper1797]

# 6 Just about any hi tech company

[lodi90]

Happening at my corporation as well...big time.

Major computer company.

---

I’m seeing more and more of these unwashed H-1B types around Jacksonville, FL. You can always spot them because they travel in packs and look a little fresh off the boat rough. I saw at Costco the other day one of them was trying to pawn off somebody else’s membership card to buy some stuff. Played the no speak English routine when he got busted. LOL.

[Wolfie]

Indeed, a race to the bottom.

Back when NAFTA was passed, the running joke was that someday we’d all be flipping each other’s hamburgers. And that’s where we’re headed, at least until the Burger Flipping Robots are perfected.

[baltimorepoet]

Then when the Burger Flipping Robots are perfected, we can see how true the adage is that “idle hands are the devil’s workshop”.

[Red Badger]

Burger King has had them since the beginning........................

[GilGil]

Why Trump scares fox news!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4BFSPI17vE

[Wolfie]

I wouldn’t worry about it. History shows that an impoversihed, permanent underclass just quietly goes off into the forest to die.

[BuffaloJack]

That would be 5 out of 5 failures on their assigned mission.

[servantboy777]

Honestly, I work with quite a few H1B Indians. It's almost like indentured slavery. Of course they're paid allot better but they are tied to the company and paid lower wages than BS/Mstr/PHD’s two decades ago adjusted for inflation.

My point...They are smart, well educated and pretty decent folks. Most are humble and law abiding productive people.

Still doesn't change the fact Americans are being displaced and corps taking advantage of them...and us.

I have nothing against the Indian folks. I have something big time against our congress that is allowing this to happen.