Guest worker bill would hurt Americans
For decades, the Democratic Party has styled itself the champion of working Americans. Why, then, with countless of our fellow citizens still unemployed, do congressional Democrats - including all of Oregon's - seek to import millions more foreign workers?
...that bill and its Senate counterpart, S. 744, would "double the annual flow of guest workers to compete for jobs in every sector of the U.S. economy."
Among H.R. 15's co-sponsors are Oregon's Democratic Reps. Suzanne Bonamici, Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio and Kurt Schrader. Oregon's Democratic senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, voted for S. 744 last June.
Their support for these bills is mystifying...
The problem? The high-tech worker shortage is a myth..
One reason for the dearth of high-tech jobs for Americans: "High-tech industries," report Salzman et al, "are now using guest workers to fill two-thirds of new IT jobs...
..."Our wage per employee is 20 to 25 percent less than [the] U.S. wage for similar employee[s]."
Says the Federation for American Immigration Reform's Eric Ruark: "Companies are using guest worker visa programs not to supplement American workers but to supplant them."
H.R. 15 and S. 744 would amplify this injustice. Oregonians should contact the state's congressional Democrats and tell them to withdraw their support of these bills - and, instead, to champion the hiring of the unemployed and underemployed Americans to whom they owe their foremost responsibility.
