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Farm workers vs IT workers on H-1B visas

June 16, 2008 — 6:59am ET
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Legislation to make it easier for foreign high tech workers to stay in the U.S. ran into a bit of a buzz saw last week from one lawmaker who wants the same kind of equity for immigrants further down the economic scale.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) told a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing that the high tech companies should get "the innovators they need,'' but added that farm workers are "just as critical and relevant to the innovation of that industry." He urged the panel to take a "holistic approach" to immigration so that the most vulnerable "are not stigmatized by actions of the Congress."

His concerns reflect one of many elements involved in the contentious effort to reform the nation's immigration system, and why the push to separately raise caps on H-1B visas and green cards faces such a difficult time in Congress.

For more on the ongoing immigration debate:
- see this Computerworld.com article

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By Anonymous | Posted 10:51am | June 17, 2008

Just a few days a ago, in May, Oracle laid off 500 Software Engineers and staff from a Silicon Valley office.

I had a chance to interview two of these software engineers.

Both had Masters Degrees.

Both had done extensive Web 2.0 work for the company that Oracle acquired (BEA).

Both candidates are living in the heart of Silicon Valley, in Santa Clara.

Both had applied to several dozen companies, over the last few months, with no luck finding a new job. I asked them about this, they said they had advanced notice their positions would be eliminated.

There is a serious, merger related, recession in Software Engineering in Silicon Valley right now.

Companies are laying off the best and the brightest right and left, we need to concentrate on keeping our talented U.S. citizen Software Engineers employed.

Sadly, we can only hire one of these candidates.

Clearly, Oracle doesn't need any more Visas for software engineers, if they are throwing away such excellent U.S. Software Engineers.

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