Bush Administration Pressured On H-1B Visa Reform

[OhioChick]

A Senate committee has become impatient with a Dept. of Homeland Security and Dept. of Labor promise to visit reforms to visa programs for highly skilled workers.

By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee
InformationWeek
March 11, 2008 04:12 PM


Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Monday sent a letter to the U.S. Homeland Security Dept. quizzing secretary Michael Chertoff about what progress the Bush administration has made toward H-B visa reforms.
In his letter, Grassley -- the co-sponsor of a Senate bill last year to counter H-1B visa abuse and fraud -- asked Chertoff for an update on immigration reforms promised last August by the Bush administration.

Specifically, last year Chertoff and Commerce secretary Carlos Gutierrez announced that the Dept. of Homeland Security and Dept. of Labor "would study and report on potential administrative reforms to visa programs for highly skilled workers," said Grassley.

However, more than six months have passed since then, and Grassley wants an update on what's been accomplished

"Despite continued fraud and abuse in the H-1B program, I have yet to see one thing from the administration to address the problem," Grassley said. "Everyday we're learning more and more, but it appears that most H-1B visas are going to foreign based companies. U.S. businesses that need highly skilled workers are getting the short end of the stick."

Last year while Congress was hammering out comprehensive immigration reform legislation, Grassley and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced bi-partisan bill to overhaul the H-1B and L-1 visa programs and close loopholes that they allege employers have been exploiting.

That bill, like the larger comprehensive immigration legislation, failed to move forward in Congress.



http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206903022

[Faux pas]

1. Why would bushco care about that, he's got a war to fight over

there....Ironic that visa abuse and fraud doesn't matter when we all know terrorists are everywhere. We are 'ruled' by a bunch of 'morans'.

Interesting, thanks.