Activist Organization Files Complaint with DOJ on Behalf of U.S. Tech Workers Displaced by H-1B Visa Holders

June 9, 2023 in News by RBN Staff

 

Source: Institute for Sound Public Policy

BY JOE GUZZARDI 

U.S. Tech Workers (USTW), an activist organization operating under the nonprofit watchdog Institute for Sound Public Policy’s aegis (IfSPP), has filed a charge with the Department of Justice (DOJ) under its Immigrant Rights Section. The charge claims that two Chicago-based companies, P33 and Techicago, specifically solicited foreign H-1B visa holders for employment in violation of what’s known in immigration terminology as “country of origin discrimination” against American workers who, as U.S. citizens, are a protected class.

Since the two Chicago companies are exclusively set up to place H-1B visa workers in white-collar technology jobs, and offer coaching on how to obtain an H-1B visa, P33 and Techicago facilitate the process wherein their client companies can illegally discriminate against American workers and prioritize foreign nationals. The charge, if upheld, could allow U.S. Tech Workers to move forward with an administrative action against P33 and/or Techicago, or DOJ could sue either organization on its own behalf.

Forty-five companies use Techicago as a vehicle to place foreign workers; the most prominent among them will disappoint patriotic Americans. John Deere and Caterpillar advertise themselves as All-American corporations that work in citizens’ best interests. Behind the scenes, however, the two agriculture machinery manufacturing giants favor international hires over U.S. citizens. Other companies using the questionable recruiters include Fifth Third Bank, total assets, $209 billion; Discover Financial Services, total assets, $124 billion; Ulta Beauty, $5.4 billion, and the prestigious University of Chicago, investment assets, $14 billion. These organizations can afford to pay top-quality American employees, and have no need to seek out cheap foreign labor.

As an example of the craven attitude commonly found, Kevin Lynn, IfSPP’s Executive Director, pointed to one of the cases it monitored. A qualified U.S. worker who applied for an IT job at the University of Chicago never received a return call. But when a Southeast Asian candidate and H-1B worker submitted an identical resume for the same job, the university promptly responded with interest.

Lynn noted that the H-1B and other employment visas have, for decades, destroyed U.S. tech workers’ careers and created turmoil in their personal lives. Skilled, experienced long-time employees have been dismissed from Disney, Southern California Edison and dozens of other companies. Major tech employers Google, Microsoft, Dell and myriad others have been especially ruthless. After being fired, the displaced Americans are forced to suffer the indignity of training their replacements. Jobless and without their middle-class incomes, unemployed Americans struggle to make mortgage, car and tuition payments, and meet other obligations. The lucky H-1B workers receive lawful permanent residency and eventual citizenship – a raw deal for the unfortunate American job discrimination and bias victims.

The H-1B program is the largest U.S. temporary work visa program, with a total of approximately 600,000 workers employed by 50,000 employers. Those 600,000 represent lost job opportunities for American citizens and lawful permanent residents, an injustice that’s prevailed and continuously worsened for more than 30 uninterrupted years. While mostly providing work authorization for information technology jobs, the H-1B has also enabled entry into other financially rewarding occupations like accounting, journalism, teaching, and the health and medical fields. Originally created to fill labor shortages in professional fields, the H-1B visa holder is now many employers’ default choice. New data shows that employers with a business model like those named in the IfPPS action face no labor shortages.

Lynn said that the vigorous effort to overlook American job applications while being “hyper-focused on hiring only foreigners” is shameful. Concluding that the H-1B visa program disincentivizes U.S. companies from hiring American workers, Lynn said the H-1B visa “must be totally re-worked, if not completely eliminated” until such time as employers can demonstrate a verifiable and true need for international workers.

A favorable outcome in IfSPP’s DOJ complaint filed on behalf of displaced U.S. technology workers by overseas H-1B visa workers will put future H-1B employers on alert that American citizens deserve to get the first opportunity to fill the white-collar jobs they’re qualified to hold.

JOE GUZZARDI

Joe Guzzardi is a Project for Immigration Reform analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com.