Barack Obama on H1B and Immigration

[I D Shukhov]

www.techcrunch.com/2007/1...gy-issues/
 

Immigration and H1B Visas

MA: What is your position on H1B visas in general? Do you believe the number of H1B visas should be increased?

BO: Highly skilled immigrants have contributed significantly to our domestic technology industry. But we have a skills shortage, not a worker shortage. There are plenty of Americans who could be filling tech jobs given the proper training. I am committed to investing in communities and people who have not had an opportunity to work and participate in the Internet economy as anything other than consumers. Most H-1B new arrivals, for example, have earned a bachelors degree or its equivalent abroad (42.5%). They are not all PhDs. We can and should produce more Americans with bachelors degrees that lead to jobs in technology. A report of the National Science Foundation (NSF) reveals that blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans as a whole comprise more that 25% of the population but earn, as a whole, 16% of the bachelor degrees, 11% of the masters degrees, and 5% of the doctorate degrees in science and engineering. We can do better than that and go a long way toward meeting industrys need for skilled workers with Americans. Until we have achieved that, I will support a temporary increase in the H-1B visa program as a stopgap measure until we can reform our immigration system comprehensively. I support comprehensive immigration reform that includes improvement in our visa programs, including our legal permanent resident visa programs and temporary programs including the H-1B program, to attract some of the worlds most talented people to America. We should allow immigrants who earn their degrees in the U.S. to stay, work, and become Americans over time. As part of our comprehensive reform, we should examine our ability to replace a stopgap increase in the number of H1B visas with an increase in the number of permanent visas we issue to foreign skilled workers. I will also work to ensure immigrant workers are less dependent on their employers for their right to stay in

[codger]

What did you expect? He's a lib.

[The Gorn]

I could have replied to any of these "XXXX on H1B" threads, so I've chosen this one at random.

All politicians (with rare exceptions) appear to think the following:

H1B is small potatoes. That is, H1B is usually attached to issues of much greater prominence such as illegal immigration or border walls. This implies that they haven't spent much, if any, time considering it.

Support of H1B automatically in a knee jerk way sounds idealistic and noble. H1B is their chance to sound "pan-humanity" and progressive.

H1B sounds to all politician's ears to be an automatically popular issue - that they MUST support it or else be thought misanthropic and closed minded.

H1B sounds to their ears to be costless and to have no negative, only positive, consequences for the country.

Support of H1B for whatever reason sounds to all of their ears like a "best and brightest for the US, f*ck yeah!" issue. That the alternative is to support the collapse of the US's technology sector.  IE, you either support H1B, or you want to crush live babies under hot metal rollers.

To me it appears that all candidates are by default uniformly ignorant of the real costs and lack of necessity of this program, assiduously avoid the real drivers of this program, and believe what their corporate masters tell them.

Unlike the illegal beaners who riot and wipe their asses on the flag, IT people don't create enough of a public stink on this issue to even make a dent in this perception.

Maybe I'll stay home this election day, unless Ron Paul is on the ticket or I can write him in.

[codger]

Their ignorance of alternative systems of taxation exhibits the same selective blindness.

Before we become too tough on them, let's remember who voted for them. The ignorance of the US voter never ceases to amaze me.

[pm4hire]

[I D Shukhov]

Good analysis GB.  One other thing:  industry keeps clamoring for an H1-B increase. We know why -- cheap labor.

Yes, the politicians don't have anyone telling them about the consequences -- about how we should be encouraging our own young folks to study software engineering, and how they never will if the jobs can so easily be taken away.

[Richardk]

Quote:The ignorance of the US voter never ceases to amaze me.

And that's what scares me the most.

Yeah, more H1B. Hasn't anyone sat down and thought about the long term consequences of this kind of strategy?

When everyone is making the same wages as in Mexico or India, who are they going to tax? I think this will only accelerate the divide between the ultra-rich and the ultra-poor.

How about jobs for Americans first?

Show me that there are no qualified Americans for those high tech jobs.

[The Gorn]

Oh, H1B? That's NOTHING to worry about, my constituents! It helps our overseas friends to prosper and it helps US, too! There are no victims whatsoever, only winners! Poor deserving Indians with great technical skills get to work at our technology jobs. It's all nice and wonderful!

Now just stop thinking about it. It's all one world. It takes a village, and this is the global village!

Let's sing Kum-bay-yah now!

   

[David Cressey]

I've said it before:

The Democrats think you're an overprivileged elitist who deserves a come-down.  The Republicans think you're a common laborer with delusions of grandeur.  

The ITAA has bought the attention of both parties.  Don't look to either party to look out for your interests.

Don't hold out too much hope for Ron Paul, either.  Ron Paul would cancel the H1B program in short order.  Right after that, he would set up a system where economic cross border migration would be completely unregulated.  He'd support border controls against terrorists,  but that's it.  

The hundreds of thousands of H1Bs from the third world would be replaced by millions of foreigners with the right to work in the US.  

Complete economic liberty is not compatible with economic protectionism.  He really believes in liberty.

[JavaMouse]

Quote:Right after that, he would set up a system where economic cross border migration would be completely unregulated...

He really believes in liberty.

Interesting that this same position is held by extreme left-winger Howard Zinn:

Quote:The world that I envision is one in which national boundaries no longer exist, in which you can move from one country to another with the same ease in which we can move from Massachusetts to Connecticut, a world without passports or visas or immigration quotas. True globalization in the human sense, in which we recognize that the world is one and that human beings everywhere have the same rights.

It's such a rosy, utopian picture, whether put forth by the libertarians or leftists.  In general, I like the idea, but I think the transition period will be a long one, if we ever even approach it.

[David Cressey]

Quote:It's such a rosy, utopian picture, whether put forth by the libertarians or leftists. In general, I like the idea, but I think the transition period will be a long one, if we ever even approach

I believe you are right in your assessment.  The problem is that phenomena like terrorism, empire building, economic desperation, and global depletion  interact with each other in complex and subtle ways.  Any solution to one of them that assumes that the other three have already been solved is doomed to remain a utopian vision.

Meanwhile, the world lurches forward towards what it is to become,  and does so at a rate that staggers our ability to adapt.

[codger]

Quote:"The world that I envision is one in which national boundaries no longer exist, in which you can move from one country to another with the same ease in which we can move from Massachusetts to Connecticut, a world without passports or visas or immigration quotas. True globalization in the human sense, in which we recognize that the world is one and that human beings everywhere have the same rights."

"Imagine all the people
Living life in peace..."
               - John Lennon

Blather.