I-Squared, Again: Don't Be Distracted

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- IEEE-USA, representing more than 180,000 technology professionals in the United States, urges Congress to oppose the I-Squared Act and any attempt to expand the H-1B outsourcing visa.

On Thursday, Sen. Orin Hatch (R-UT) reintroduced his H-1B expansion bill, the I-Squared Act, which would increase the number of H-1B visas from 85,000 annually to 195,000.  His bill would not prohibit companies from using these new visas to replace American workers, despite this being the predominant use of the H-1B visa. 

The I-Squared bill also increases the number of Employment-Based (EB) green cards available each year, and makes some small, but useful, improvements to the student visa.  While these changes are welcome, they cannot undo the damage done by a reckless increase in temporary visas.

"Senator Hatch has re-introduced the I-Squared bill, calling for a massive increase in H-1B visas which cost Americans jobs, at a moment when the American people are very clear that's not what they want," said IEEE-USA President Sandra Robinson.  "As the largest organization representing American tech workers, IEEE-USA not only opposes this rehashed legislation, but we also urge that Congress not be distracted from their more urgent business -- helping create and keep tech jobs in America."

"For example, the House Judiciary Committee just unanimously approved HR 170, which cracks down on outsourcing American jobs, the predominant use of the H-1B," Robinson said. "We want to see that legislation passed by the House as soon as possible, and taken up by the Senate."

Some legislators have apparently forgotten how Disney, Southern California Edison, Toys R' US, Harley Davidson and hundreds of other companies used the H-1B visa to replace American workers with cheaper foreign workers, and furthermore, how those companies made their American workers train their non-American replacements.  But the American public remembers, and knows that Congress has not ended this business model.  The public will surely notice if Congress choses instead to make things worse.

"The Hatch bill is clearly the wrong direction, and sends the wrong signal about how to solve America's immigration problems," Robinson said.

IEEE-USA supports language in the I-Squared Act that would increase the green cards available to companies each year.  America is made stronger when the world's most innovative and talented workers live here -- as Americans.  But that requires a green card, not a temporary visa.

America needs green cards, not guest workers.

About IEEE-USA

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SOURCE IEEE-USA