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Roy Beck - founder |
This Issue: H-1B ruling proves that existing law allows employers to replace American workers
Fri,
Oct 14th
A
federal judge in Orlando, Fla. ruled yesterday that the Walt Disney
Company did not violate the law when it laid off roughly 250 high-tech
American workers in 2014 and forced them to train their H-1B,
foreign-worker replacements as a condition of their severance.
The
plaintiffs, two of the laid off Disney workers, claimed that Disney and
the two companies they outsourced the jobs to, Cognizant Technology
Solutions and HCL America, had conspired to violate visa laws.
Federal
Judge Gregory A. Presnell's ruling wasn't too surprising given the fact
that existing federal law allows employers to do exactly what Disney
did. But Disney's response to the ruling was a bit more appalling given
the national fallout since news of the layoffs went public. According to
the
New York Times:
A
spokeswoman for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Jacquee Wahler, said,
"As we have said all along, this lawsuit was completely baseless, and we
are gratified by the decision."
In
other words, Disney is pleased that federal law allows American
companies to replace American workers with cheaper, more compliant
foreign workers.
Under
existing H-1B rules, it's easy for companies like Disney to replace
existing American workers with foreign workers. The law allows companies
to replace their workers as long as
they pay H-1B workers more than
$60,000 a year, show that the worker has an advanced degree, and wait at
least 90 days between the time the H-1B petition was filed and the
replacement date of the American worker.
The
waiting period is rarely an issue because the wait time from when an
employer files a petition for an H-1B worker and when they receive an
affirmative answer is usually more than 90 days. And according to
Salary.com, an entry level software engineer in Orlando makes a little
more than $61,000 per year, so the wage requirement isn't an issue for
most employers either. In reality, the American workers doing the same
job are likely making at least 50% more than that, so employers are
still saving thousands of dollars by hiring cheaper H-1B workers to
replace them.
The
H-1B program is one of the most explicit examples of federal
immigration policy working against the interests of American workers and
the nation as a whole. And yet, Congress has done nothing to address
it. In fact, there are more elected officials calling for increases in
the H-1B program and an even further loosening of the rules than those
who are calling for meaningful reforms that would prioritize American
workers.
Supporters
of the H-1B program argue that there is a shortage of American workers
to fill these jobs and there are adequate protections in place to
protect them. But yesterday's ruling undermines that argument. Clearly,
the law, as written, allows companies to legally displace American
workers, and the Disney example shows that there is no worker shortage.
In
these remaining weeks before the general election, we urge you to hold
your Members of Congress accountable on this issue and ask what they'll
do to put an end to the abuses within the H-1B program.
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Fri,
Oct 14th
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Due to the increasing immigration court backlog U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) announced in a press release that they will
extend "the validity period for initial or renewal Employment
Authorization Documents for asylum applicants from one year to two
years".
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Wed,
Oct 12th
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A federal judge in the Northern District of Illinois voided thousands of
ICE detainers requesting that deportable aliens and others be held in
custody for 48 hours after their normal release to accommodate Agent
pickup. The ruling increases the likelihood that aliens in at least six
states will be released to the streets and disappear before they can be
captured and placed in federal detention facilities.
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Tue,
Oct 11th
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According to internal Homeland Security documents obtained by Rep.
Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), Mexico has been granting Haitians 20-day
transit documents in order to reach the U.S. border. This policy and lax
immigration enforcement in the U.S. has led to a 1,800% increase in
Haitians illegally crossing the border in 2016.
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Fri,
Oct 7th
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An unpublished Homeland Security Department report obtained by the
Associated Press concluded that the Border Patrol caught only 54 percent
of those entering illegally from Mexico in fiscal year 2015. DHS
previously announced it had an 81 percent success rate for that year.
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Fri,
Oct 7th
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly unemployment figures
this morning. The headline of the press release read: "Payroll
employment increases by 156,000 in September; unemployment rate li
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