I am appalled at Congressman Kolbe’s assertion in the June 23 Arizona Star
that we need to expand the guest worker program.
Mr. Kolbe is cleverly turning the “hearth wrenching” issue of illegal
immigration and death in the desert into a vehicle to garner constituent
support for an effort that is afoot in Congress to expand or maintain
the number of non-immigrant H-1B visas that was increased from 65,000 in 1998 to almost 200,000 in 2000.
The attempt to maintain or raise this ceiling is a ruse for driving down the wages of
Information Technology workers in the United States. About sixty percent of current
guest worker visas were granted to software developers. In considering Congressman Kolbe’s call for an increase in guest worker visas one might ask, “How many Mexican software developers have been found wandering in the Sonoran desert?” Research shows that H-1B workers are typically paid substantially less than American workers. One only needs to look at the campaign
contributors for Congressman Kolbe and Senator McCain at www.opensecrets.org to learn why
they would support an increase in guest worker visas. Senator McCain’s top contributors reads like a who’s who of high tech employers.
The currentemployment picture for Information Technology workers in the
United States is probably the worst it has been since 1981, prior to the PC
explosion. With estimates of up to one million skilled Information Technology
workers on the unemployment lines and benefits running out, Mr. Kolbe’s call to increase
the number of guest worker visas shows the citizens of Pima county that he is clearly out
of touch with this issue.
see part 2
