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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: 202-219-8211.
U.S. Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich told a U.S. Senate
committee today that important high-tech jobs are at risk without major reform
of one of the nation's temporary work-related immigration programs.
He said some U.S. firms are using a little-known
immigration program to replace U.S. workers with cheap, foreign labor. Reich
recommended that the program, known as H-1B, be overhauled to put in place new
restrictions to protect high-tech U.S. jobs. Reich said loopholes in the
current law have created a cottage industry of employers known as "body shops"
who import foreign workers willing to work at significantly lower wages. These
businesses have sprouted particularly in high-tech and health care fields.
"The program we have today has been turned into a sham by
some employers," Reich told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "Too many employers
are using the program as a back door to avoid their responsibility to train
U.S. workers for these important high-tech jobs. We must bring some sanity to
this process that will raise protection of U.S. workers as the issue of
paramount importance in our work-related immigration laws."
Reich related examples of U.S. firms his department has
cited for violating the law. Reich testified today before the Senate Judiciary
Committee.
Reich said, "Our experience with the actual operation of
the program has raised serious concerns that what was conceived as a means to
meet temporary business needs for unique, highly-skilled professionals from
abroad is, in fact, being used by some employers to bring in relatively large
numbers of foreign workers who may be displacing U.S. workers and eroding
employers' commitment to the domestic workforce."
Three changes to the law would provide the needed
protection for U.S. workers, he said. The secretary renewed his request for
amendments to require that employers seeking access to temporary foreign
professional workers attest that:
- They have not laid off or otherwise displaced U.S. workers in the
occupations for which they seek nonimmigrant workers in the periods preceding
and following their seeking such workers;
- in certain circumstances, they have taken timely and significant
steps to recruit and retain U.S. workers in these occupations.
Reich also requested that the period of stay allowed
workers admitted under the H-1B program be reduced from six to three years. The
six-year period contradicts the temporary nature that was intended for the
program, he said.
Making these changes to the program are especially
critical now, he said, because abuses of the program are increasing. He pointed
to a trend of growth of companies which are predominantly or entirely dependent
on nonimmigrant workers and are thus able to compete unfairly with companies
that employ primarily U.S. workers. He also noted that the H-1A program for
foreign nurses, a program which contained needed safeguards, has expired. Some
foreign nurses will now be able to seek immigration status under the H-1B
program which lacks adequate U.S. worker protections.
"I think all would agree that in nearly all situations it
is entirely unreasonable that an employer in this country -- as a matter of
public policy -- actually is able to lay off U.S. workers and replace them with
temporary foreign workers in their own employ or through contract," he said.
"This is exactly what is happening now. In fact, our public policy tolerates
it, perhaps encourages it. This must change."
Reich also said proposals in the legal immigration
legislation being considered in the House might actually weaken protections for
U.S. workers. Although he praised some elements of the House bill, Reich said
worker protection would be inadequate without a requirement that companies make
significant efforts to recruit and retain U.S. workers in high-skill jobs.
Although the U.S. business community has already raised
considerable objections to reforming the program, Reich said the interests of
U.S. workers would not be served by less ambitious reform of the program.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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