to Sen Dianne Feinstein re: H-1B visas

[http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert (Robert)]

I am disappointed to learn that the Senate Judiciary Committee has decided
to raise the H-1B visa cap next year to 115,000 annually.  This is lower
than the original proposal of 145,000, but is still much too high.  I urge
you to oppose this effort and restore the H-1B visa cap to its previous
cap of 85,000 annually.

The H-1B visa program is a deeply flawed program.  Conceived to give
American employers access to the best and brightest workers from around
the world while protecting American workers, it currently does neither.
The visas are increasingly being used to fill mundane jobs that require no
specialized skills at all.  For example, the Department of Labor approved
applications this year to hire lifeguards, office managers, security
guards and even interns with H-1B visas.

Worse, despite assurances that all H-1B workers will be paid the
prevailing American wage, there are numerous examples where this simply is
not happening.  For example, the DOL approved an H-1B application for an
electrical engineering position paying $10.00 earlier this year.  Let me
assure you that highly-educated engineers make considerably more than
$10.00 per hour in the United States.

And please don.t forget that the law no longer requires employers to even
look for Americans before turning to H-1B visas.  The last of those
protections was eliminated last year.

Now we have learned that the Department of Homeland security cannot keep
track of how many visas it grants each year.  I urge you to read the
Inspector General.s report
(http://grassley.senate.gov/releases/2005/10182005.pdf) in which the
Department acknowledges that it cannot track the number of visas issued.
In 2004, it exceeded the legal cap by at least 7,000. If the Department
can.t handle 65,000 visas, how can you expect them to track 115,000?

When you look at how the H-1B visa program is frequently being used, you
see that the program is in need of serious reform.  Until these flaws in
the program are fixed, it makes no sense to expand the program further.

I understand that the Senate raised the cap as a way of raising additional
funds to help shrink the deficit.  If Congress needs to raise additional
funds, perhaps you could simply raise the fees charged for existing visas,
including L visas.  Such a solution would be much better for workers and
the US economy.