I agree with Gov. Schwarzenegger that we have to move with caution into a green card system based on skills. Our nonprofit organization, Upwardly Global, has worked directly with more than 500 immigrant professionals in CA who have green cards, college degrees and experience, who are still vastly underemployed. It is possible to help them continue their careers, but it would take a concerted integration policy from the government and private industry to do it on a broader scale.
More information:
http://www.upwardlyglobal.org

Please see the Programmers Guild response which will be hand-delivered to the Governor's office by 10am June 6th:

http://programmersguild.blogspot.com/2007/06/letter-to-governor-schwarzenegger.html

The governor has violated his promise to not bow to special interests and instead act on behalf of the people.

The fix is in on this one.

Writing letters to Washington is a waste of time unless you are a state governor.

It just shows how nationless corporations subvert the promise of democracy.

Official US government policy is wealth to the wealthy.

A computer programmer used to be able to support a family in this country.

Who would recommend to any college student to study computer programming?

Microsoft, Oracle, Intel, Sun, HP and all the other corporations who show no allegiance to any country can afford to pay living wages to their programmers, and their lobbying for the US government to allow them to bring in replacement workers from foreign countries is immoral and unethical.

Duke University Study:
There Is No Shortage of U.S. Engineers

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2111347,00.asp

"... a new study from Duke University ... stating that there is no shortage of engineers in the United States, and that offshoring is all about cost savings. "

I'm am confident that our rulers know the truth about demand and supply of US skilled technology workers. They just support the corporations over the workers.

The US was built on slavery and exploitation of destitute immigrants. There is a long and continuing tradition of exploiting labor by robber barrons.

There is also a long tradition of money corrupting politicians.

Things are more like they are now than they have ever been. (you can quote me on that!)

i'm back from governor's office, attempting to deliver this letter:

http://programmersguild.blogspot.com/

they wouldn't let me in the door (even though hoards of kids were going in and out on a field trip). they would not let me speak to any staff. they would not allow me to hand the letter to anyone. she asked "who do you want to meet with?" I said "whoever would be most appropriate." She said "you have to tell me a name."

a grouchy lady handed me a form to fill out. i explained that I had come to drop off a letter and did not bring a pen, could i borrow one? NO! I bummed a pen off one of the security guards at the door and filled out the form, stating that I wish to meet with a staff ASAP. (cell phone is not ringing off the hook. I expect a blowing smoke letter to arrive in a few weeks.)

I then dropped the letter in a box in the mail room and left.

Governor's office PHONE: 916-445-2841

While you're all struggling to figure how to remain globally competitive - offshore your company's work to Canada.

We have a highly educated and competitive workforce. You use the same time zones we do.

Actually Kim, there is a flaw in your letter. H1B holders are not hostages to their employer at all... As a matter of fact there are recruiters that look specifically for H1B holders because transfering the employer on the H1B does not subject the visa holder to the cap for the current year.

I am a foreign born employee of a US corporation, and currently working here under a Free Trade visa. The fact that it will currently take a minimum of 16 months before I can "POSSIBLY" be the holder of a H1B is just silly. Maybe the cap has to move to Monthly, but annual caps that cause the type of flood we now get is just unworkable.

Secondly, if you want to admit productive foreigners as future residents of your country, then employability is a major factor in their ability to be productive, and labor statistics keep their employment from affecting trades that are allready saturated, thus removing opportunities for citizens.

There are allready visa's for family of residents/citizens and for investors. If you are not related to anyone, and you have no money to invest and you are going to take a job away from a citizen in a field where jobs are hard to come by, maybe there is an issue.

Immigration needs reforms, but this is a MARKET BASED ECONOMY. The workforce and the labor related visas must be driven by that same market or they stop making sense. Visa's for other purposes allready exist (Cultural diversion Lottery, Refugee Visa...) the H1B is not the place to change it.

When I read this:
"Our nonprofit organization, Upwardly Global, has worked directly with more than 500 immigrant professionals in CA who have green cards, college degrees and experience, who are still vastly underemployed."
I have to think that maybe we don't need more of these high skilled immigrants after all if the ones already here can't get the appropriate jobs. It is all about the big corporations who own and run the country getting more cheap labor.

Hi Randy,

We consider H-1b "hostages" during the period that they are being sponsored for a greencard. Industry is fighting hard to get that indentured servant status put back into current bill.

We know that many bodyshops look exclusively for H-1b workers - ignoring qualified American applicants: The programmers guild has sued 300 of such employers.

Kim,

Thank you for all the effort you put in to combatting this injustice to American workers.

Despair is not an option. We can not take no for an answer. The H-1b and other replacement worker programs should be eliminated, not just curtailed.

It is not just when an employer discriminates and excludes someone on the basis of not being foreign and on a visa program through which they can exploit with lower wages and benefits.

It is, literally, anti-American. It is anti-family. It is unjust. It cannot stand.

Thank you again for your actions and watchfulness.

WOW! I cannot believe that Americans in this country are actually SUPPORTING this! This letter is 100% about allowing cheaper labor and saving the corporations $$$$. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with 'we need workers and we cannot provide them ourselves'!

This is another example of corporations with $$$ paying politicians off to get new laws passed to the corporation's benefit. And yes, I find it HIGHLY un-American!

Strengthening the borders yet allowing more foreign born workers into this country? Jobs are being taken from natural born citizens everyday through this type of thing. And those of us born here and working here pay for it everyday!

I am so sick of this immigration B.S. "strengthening the borders". Who the hell do they think they are kidding? The flood gates are being opened left and right. And who suffers? We ALL do...... all of us except those here illegally that is.... as an average middle class citizen, I'm tired of footing the bill for everyone else...... those who come here illegally yet take from our system..... and the rich who somehow get around everything the rest of us live by in order to be 'law abiding'. Much like gun control...... the only ones any law seems to impact are the 'honest ones' out there. And it is those of us in that category that will suffer the most.

It's getting so that being "American" is becoming so "un-American".

Kim, Marc, Jennifer ..

Lets start here. "Jobs are being taken from natural born citizens". "H-1b "hostages" " .

Who are the natural born citizens in this country? The native red indians were killed and the whole land you are living right now was built on that. Either your fathers, grandfathers or their fathers would have immigrated in the same way people are immigrating these days. You should keep that in mind before you make any comments.

Kumar...
rationalizations such as yours points to a growing and troubling trend by all immigrants into this country, a desire to have we US citizens fund an overthrow of our way of life by said immigrants on the grounds that this was how 'we' immigrated to this country. 'We' being the third, fourth, fifth, etc. generation Americans who have roots in this country and in its culture. Overthrow of any established population of any people anywhere in this world, passive or otherwise is always met with resistance by the established people of the area, indiginous or otherwise established in an area. Find a land anywhere in this world that has not at some time been taken from previously established cultures/peoples. You will be hard pressed to do so. Using our past history and truly deplorable treatment of the American Indian as justification for a bloodless overthrow by outsiders is unacceptable, regardless of the justification used. Please, use a little more of that vaunted foreign intellect to come up with a plausible argument in defense of this odious new trend or keep your comments to yourself.