One of the nation’s largest county government bodies voted on September 18, 2007, to open the H-1b visa-hiring program to US citizens and legal residents – in opposition to 13 governors who last week urged Congress to expand the program, without ever requiring employers to seek local talent for top-dollar, white-collar jobs.
 
The Cook County Board of Commissioners (IL) voted on a resolution co-sponsored by Commissioners Larry Suffredin and Roberto Maldonado to support U.S. Senate bill 1035 that would, for the first time, require employers to seek local talent before securing Department of Labor (DOL) permits to hire citizens from abroad.   The bi-partisan bill pending in congress, “H-1B and L-1 Visa Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act of 2007”, introduced by U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), would overhaul these visa hiring programs by giving priority to American professionals and crack down on unscrupulous employers who deprive qualified Americans of jobs and then exploit citizens from abroad.

The resolution urges the United States Congress to pass the bill and urges President Bush to sign it.  In addition, copies of the resolution will be sent to President George Bush, President of the Senate Richard Cheney, Senator Harry Reid, Majority Leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, Representative John Boehner, and Minority Leader of the House.

These members representing Cook County will also receive a copy of the resolution: Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), Representative Judy Biggert (R-IL),Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), Representative Jerry Costello (R-IL), Representative Melissa Bean (D-IL), Representative Danny K. Davis (D-IL), Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-IL), Representative Mark Kirk (R-IL), Representative William O. Lipinski (D-IL), Representative Bobby L. Rush (D-IL),Representative Jan Schakowsky(D-IL) Representative Jerry Weller (R-IL), and Representative Peter Roskam (R-IL).

 “I’m proud to be represented by a county board that understands that the heart of America is Opportunity. And the promise of America is that this offer is to be extended to all of its citizens and legal residents,” said Donna Conroy, former technology professional, who founded and directs a grassroots campaign to counteract claims that Americans are not qualified to do science and technology. Her organization, Brightfuturejobs.com, has long lobbied to reform the H-1B visa program so that U.S. citizens and green card holders can compete for good paying jobs.

“The H-1B visa-hiring program is a trap.  It traps the US workforce by excluding them from job competition.  It traps citizens from abroad into visa swindles and exploitation.  It traps the American public into believing there is a shortage of technical talent, when in fact, both American and H-1B’s technical professionals face continuing unemployment,” said Conroy.
 

Below is the full text of the Resolution:

SPONSORED BY

THE HONORABLE LARRY SUFFREDIN AND ROBERTO MALDONADO
COOK COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE H-1B AND L-1B VISA
FRAUD AND ABUSE PREVENTION ACT OF 2007

WHEREAS, the federal H-1B program was created to provide companies and universities access to foreign workers in areas determined to be a “specialty occupation” by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, but, instead, has become abused by employers as a de-facto outsourcing program; and

WHEREAS, through the H-1B program, employers are not required to seek local talent, thus blocking local white collar workers, including administrative and professional positions, from competing for these job openings; and

WHEREAS, thousands of American white collar workers have been laid off and their jobs offered to H-1B visa holders, many in the technology sector, the backbone of the new information economy; and

WHEREAS, the Information Technology (“IT”) sector has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs since the recession of 2001 and not only has failed to replace those jobs, but also continues to severely under-represent women and minorities; and

WHEREAS, more than half of the IT jobs filled under the FY 2005 H-1B program were designated as entry-level white collar positions; and

WHEREAS, the H-1B program further accelerates the race to the bottom for white collar workers by allowing employers to offer lower wages and impose other unfair labor practices by making the H-1B visa holder beholden to their employer and holding the threat of deportation over his or her head; and

WHEREAS, in Cook County, between 2001 and 2005 over 180,000 white collar jobs were put at risk, because of the H-1B program; and

WHEREAS, Senators Dick Durbin and Charles Grassley have introduced S. 1035, the H-1B and L-1B Visa Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act of 2007 to reform the H-1B hiring program by requiring employers to recruit from the US workforce first, attest that the H-1B visa holder will not displace an American worker and require that companies advertise job openings for 30 days on the Department of Labor website before resorting to the H-1B program;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Cook County Board of Commissioners does hereby support S. 1035 and urges the United States Congress to pass the measure and President Bush to sign it; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that suitable copies of the Resolution be delivered to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Majority Leader of the Senate, the Minority Leader of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives and all members of Congress representing Cook County.