There hasn’t been much attention paid to the guest worker provisions included in Obama’s executive amnesty. Aside from the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program being expanded in as yet unexplained ways, DHS is going to maximize the use of the “national interest waiver”* to allow a foreign national with “an advanced degree or exceptional ability” to apply for a green card without an employer sponsor. Much worse, DHS will use its “significant public benefit ‘parole authority’ to:
…propose a program that will permit DHS to grant parole status, on a case-by-case basis, to inventors, researchers, and founders of start-up enterprises who may not yet qualify for a national interest waiver, but who have been awarded substantial U.S. investor financing or otherwise hold the promise of innovation and job creation through the development of new technologies or the pursuit of cutting edge research. Parole in this type of circumstance would allow these individuals to temporarily pursue research and development of promising new ideas and businesses in the United States, rather than abroad.
This is a sop to tech executives in Silicon Valley who will claim, as they do with the H-1B program, that the foreign workers (unlimited under Obama’s directive) they are now going to be able to bring in to displace Americans are the world’s “best and brightest” who have “exceptional ability” and/or are of “significant public benefit.” Not only are the meager workers protections now in place to protect Americans in skilled occupations circumvented, but there is no ceiling on how many foreign workers will be able to enter the U.S. job market.
Worst of all, the L-1B visa program, which has been used to circumvent caps on H-1Bs workers, is going to be ramped up. The L-1 “Intracompany Transferee” visa allows a company to bring an employee who has worked for that company abroad for one year to the United States. The L-1B visa is for employees with “specialized knowledge,” though the specialization of the knowledge is determined wholly by the employer. An L-1B visa is valid for five years. There is no labor market test or wage requirement for employers who sponsor an L-1 guest worker, and the spouses of L visa holders get work authorization.
The “Worker Portability” policy is more ambiguous. It will allow guest workers more bargaining power, in theory, since they can change employers, but the number of guest workers allowed in under these provisions (unlimited) is going to mean more displacement for native workers in all “skilled” occupations.
*8 U.S. Code § 1153
(B) Waiver of job offer
(i) National interest waiver Subject to clause (ii), the Attorney General may, when the Attorney General deems it to be in the national interest, waive the requirements of subparagraph (A) that an alien’s services in the sciences, arts, professions, or business be sought by an employer in the United States.
**8 U.S. Code § 1182
(5)
(A) The Attorney General may, except as provided in subparagraph (B) or in section 1184 of this title, in his discretion parole into the United States temporarily under such conditions as he may prescribe only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit any alien applying for admission to the United States, but such parole of such alien shall not be regarded as an admission of the alien and when the purposes of such parole shall, in the opinion of the Attorney General, have been served the alien shall forthwith return or be returned to the custody from which he was paroled and thereafter his case shall continue to be dealt with in the same manner as that of any other applicant for admission to the United States.
7 Comments
He has no compassion for American workers, no compassion for Americans period. He wants to do one of two things. He either wants to become the supreme ruler of this country or if he can’t achieve that then he wants to destroy it.
It is better for our economic and military security to cultivate homegrown technology workers, rather that bringing in foreign students and workers, especially since many are from China. China has identified the areas where it is technologically behind the US, and it is a national priority to catch up using whatever means necessary. The Defense Science Service, which oversees the protection of sensitive and classified information and technology in the hands of industry, has an annual report on the targeting of US Technologies at
http://www.dss.mil/documents/ci/2014UnclassTrends.PDF
Here are some excerpts:
–The tide of foreign targeting of U.S. technologies shows no sign of ebbing….Since FY07, East Asia and the Pacific has been the most active collector region.
–….placement in sensitive positions likely provides individuals with opportunities to attempt to gain unauthorized access to U.S. information and technology.
–In FY13….academics seeking internships and postdoctoral positions continuously submitted résumés for positions within U.S. defense programs, especially those specializing in nanotechnology, aeronautic systems, and space and marine systems.
–Analyst Comment: East Asia and the Pacific academics’ access to the technological knowhow resident in the U.S. cleared industrial base is grounds for concern. To the extent that they take any research results and knowledge acquired back to their home countries, it is likely such access ultimately supports their countries’ military R&D. The sponsorship programs probably exert leverage on national students intended to engender targeting of cleared personnel and/or U.S. technology.
–The bulk of East Asia and the Pacific solicitations sought postgraduate research positions related to a variety of research topics that included marine, aeronautic, and space system technologies, materials (raw and processed), and sensors (acoustic). The intelligence community has concluded that access to cleared contractor information and technology related to these fields would further the long-term strategic defense goals of East Asia and the Pacific countries. These goals include developing indigenous capabilities that will reduce dependence on and/or vulnerability to U.S. technology and enabling such a country to dominate its region.
–Analyst Comment: As cleared industry begins to apply emerging technologies to military and commercial programs, the top collectors against U.S. information and technology will almost certainly increase their efforts targeting those sectors. Countries targeting these technologies will almost certainly employ various MOs as they attempt to keep pace with the rapid advancement of U.S. technology for military application. Among technologies DSS categorizes as emerging, quantum computing and quantum key encryption will likely be the most sought-after.
–In part to further ongoing military modernization efforts, East Asia and the Pacific entities will almost certainly continue to attempt to collect against a broad spectrum of sensitive, classified, and export controlled technologies. In addition, wide-ranging and continuing efforts to enhance the region’s naval and space programs will almost certainly continue to drive much of the collection activity against U.S. information and technology.
–Given the geography of the East Asia and the Pacific region, regimes consider maritime power to be especially important, both as a defensive necessity and for its offensive potential. This will almost certainly continue to fuel East Asia and the Pacific collectors’ attempts to steal data in related technology sectors, especially in marine systems subareas such as autonomous underwater vehicles.
–Foreign entities show all signs of continuing to target U.S. technologies just as vigorously, if not more so, in FY14. Maintaining the U.S. military, technological, and economic edge rests on cleared contractors practicing continued vigilance to ensure that information and technology resident in their facilities is safeguarded.
Thanks for the facts. We treat China like they are some ally but they are not. They may have dropped the rhetoric of decades ago but they are are hostile to our interests.
Leland makes great points. There are only so many ‘classes’ in the US. The working class and the poor have been decimated by illegals in various jobs, and illegals have also succeeded in keeping salaries at poverty levels for decades now – not for them of course, but for their legal US counterparts. The middle class destruction has been well documented. And now the upper middle, or professional class, in science and high tech jobs are being gutted as well.
Just what are college grads to do? Tell your kids to either be a plumber (can’t be outsourced – not yet anyhow…) or stay in school – forever. Because in the so-called real world, not even a PhD can help you now with massive waves of illegals (but is anyone now ‘illegal’ in the US?) and their subsequent ‘affirmative’ action job placements.
Thanksgiving often brings family members together who have diverse views on politics, immigration, etc. Please remind any relative who whines about how hard illegals work that the minimum wage in Mexico is $4 dollars. NOT $4 dollars per hour – but $4 dollars PER DAY (based on working 8 hours per day). That’s Fifty Cents per hour. And that’s high compared to many other countries. So the average illegal from Mexico makes the equivalent of ONE MONTH worth of Mexican wages for working only ONE DAY in the US. That’s what Americans don’t focus on – the actual earnings based on their home countries, which is where their money is going anyhow.
ONE DAY’s work = ONE MONTH salary (sometimes even more). Not a bad deal….
I don’t know about you, but I think I’d stand out in front of Home Depot all day too if I could make about $2,000 dollars PER DAY (the US equivalent if the countries/roles were reversed). Of course Mexico actually enforces illegal immigration, unlike here in the US. So I wouldn’t have that chance.
Have you ever walked down the street and seen a penny on the ground, and walked past it? We all have. In Mexico, the currency is called a Peso. 1 Peso is worth about 7 US cents, or about 7 pennies. There is a coin in Mexico called a Centavo, which is worth 1/100 of a Peso. That’s only 1% of the value of a Peso. But you will never see a Centavo on the ground in Mexico – because the country is that poor. Think about that, especially in regard to illegal immigration. And pass this item on to your relatives at the dinner table. Without enforcement of our immigration laws, the US will continue to decline in freefall speed.
The Phony Engineering Shortage
Is also part of the open border brainwashing, as the job brain-drain and most of the manufacturing that kept American pay higher gets sent to Japan, South Korea, Germany, etc….
I’m sure our American [?] industries are also controlled by these same countries [stock purchasing] and so is the MSM. They have the money to invest, we don’t.
I’m laughing now though [what good does crying do], Japan is entering a big unexpected recession now, the brainless open border dolts…..don’t they realize when you rob your best customer [America] of its higher paid “engineering” job base they readily can’t afford to buy your stuff anymore. And these “made in America” foreign engineered cars are a joke too….lower non-union pay and the numbers these plants employ is a mere fraction of the “Big Three” domestic engineering job base assembling American automobiles too. I hear open border statistics that there are more American parts in foreign engineered vehicles assembled in America….I don’t believe this allegation and its simple why. What is the dollar value [not the count of cheap fasteners], including the expensive die formed body parts and machine cut gears included in this allegation? Lord only knows. Just believe the allegation without seeing its “cost weighted” proof in writing.
I was watching the stock reports on FOX last week and they were honest….”with wages going down in America, stock profits are sky-rocketing to new highs”….
The Open Border 100′ Giant Monster in America
Wears giant boots to step on and squash legal voter will and roars to scare us into obedience to our own destruction.
“There is no labor market test or or wage requirement for employers who sponsor an L-1 guest worker, and the spouses of L visa holders get work authorization.”
That’s one thing that has been ignored in this. These visa limits were formerly set by Congressional act. But the king has spoken again. Supposedly, this executive action was all about “compassion, fairness, not ripping families apart”, and all the other buzz words.
But this? How are limits on worker visas any kind of unfairness to foreign workers? This is nothing but a giveaway to the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and all the other tech giants who need a few more billions at your expense. How many times have we heard that we must encourage American students to go into STEM fields? WHY would they do that and run up student debt when our globalist no borders government will allow companies to bring in foreign workers AT WILL, who work for nothing to gain a foothold here. We are DESTROYING the American middle and professional classes with decisions like this.