Black Professionals Assail Visa Increases


H1-B bill designed to ease need for tech workers
Ron Eckstein
Legal Times
May 16, 2000


It originally seemed like Democrats could only come out as winners in
the debate over increasing the number of work visas for immigrant
high-tech employees. The issue tops Silicon Valley's wish list in this
Congress, and the biggest squabbles have been between the pro-business
and anti-immigration factions of the Republican Party.
But representatives from some Northern California-based African
American professional associations are asking Democrats to think twice
before allowing more temporary worker and trainee visas, known as H1-B
visas.
The Coalition for Fair Employment in Silicon Valley has written to
House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt to say that increasing the
number of skilled immigrants working in this country would reduce
opportunities for black, Latino, and Native American engineers and
computer programmers.
Currently, there are 115,000 H1-B visas available in FY 2000 and
107,500 available in FY 2001. The visa numbers are set to decrease to
65,000 by FY 2002. The legislation favored by the high-tech community,
sponsored by Reps. David Dreier (R-Calif.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.),
would increase the H1-B allotment to 200,000 for FY 2001, FY 2002, and
FY 2003.
But the coalition believes those immigrants would take high-paying
jobs that could otherwise go to minorities already living here.
"We would expect you to stand up for those who have traditionally
supported you," reads the letter to Gephardt, written earlier this
month. It is signed by officials from the Bay Area Chapter of the
Black Data Processing Associates, the Silicon Valley Chapter of the
National Society of Black Engineers, the Northern California Council
of Black Professional Engineers, Books 'n' Bytes, The Technology
Alliance for African American Students, the San Francisco Bay Area
Chapter of the National Black MBA Association, the National Society of
Black Physicists, and the Human Resource Network of Black
Professionals.
"You should take note that the three states with highest demand for
these H1-B's have all taken steps to reduce African-American and
Latino enrollment in their colleges, particularly in graduate and
science programs. ... Congressional approval of [the H1-B legislation]
would extend and accelerate ethnic cleansing in the high-technology
industry, lock the doors of opportunity for decades and harden racial
inequality," they write.
Labor organizations and conservative groups that oppose immigration
have also voiced concern about raising the caps on H1-B visas.
The Federation of American Immigration Reform, a nonprofit
organization concerned with overpopulation, has been outspoken in its
opposition to increasing the number of H1-B visas.
K.C. McAlpin, the group's deputy director, fears that immigrants in
the United States working on H1-Bs will accept lower salaries than
American citizens, thus driving down the pay scale for all workers. He
also agrees with the concerns of American minorities.
"H1-Bs are used by companies to fill affirmative action slots," he
says. "Those jobs would otherwise go to American women and
minorities."
But lobbyists for high-tech companies say jobs are being created so
quickly that an influx of qualified immigrants is needed to fill them.
Without more skilled workers, growth of their sector will slow, they
say.
The black professionals counter that instead of recruiting foreign
workers to fill those jobs, the United States should invest in its own
domestic labor force.
"The amount needed to bring inner-city schools to current standards
for high-technology instruction is about $20 billion, the same amount
Congress recently spent on so-called 'juvenile justice,' " they write
in the letter. "Congress has made it cheaper to recruit from the
Indian Institute of Technology than from North Carolina A&T or Hampton
University."
The bill's supporters say the coalition is being unnecessarily
divisive, pitting one minority group against another.
"There are just not enough workers nowregardless of color," says an
aide to one Democrat supporting the bill. "Look at the unemployment
rates. In the Valley, the rate is two percent. Among engineers, it's
almost nonexistent. These companies are not fixed on race. [The
opposition] is being very divisive in pitting African Americans and
Latinos against Asians."