H-1Bs take to the streets to protest

H-1Bs take to the streets to protest

Date: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 8:13 PM


<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1729 -- 7/17/2007 >>>>>

Organized groups of H-1B visa holders and their sympathizers have been taking
to the streets to protest. Their beef is that there aren't enough green cards
for them to become permanent residents.

The sheer size of the protest is impressive, especially considering the
miniscule numbers of American workers that have been able to field protests in
the Silicon Valley area to protest the H-1B program. In the last several years
there hasn't been a single protest that I'm aware of anywhere in the country.
I'm not sure if the explanation for the dearth of angry Americans is apathy or
if it is simply because there aren't any Americans left in Silicon Valley.

It's worth noting that recently someone got the idea that Americans should
mail a bar of soap to Elaine Chao so that she could wash her mouth out after
the ugly things she said about American workers. The idea fizzled because not
enough people wanted to do it, and the truth is we don't have an organization
that could manage even a small task such as that.
Immigrationvoice doesn't have that problem -- they mailed roses to the USCIS!

Oh well, it's nice to see someone actively participating in our political
system. If Americans don't care enough to lift their fingers to save their own
jobs, then hopefully they won't be too angry when foreigners take them.



Some youtube videos can be seen of the protest by clicking these links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-dduQvFmfY
Channel 2 News

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n_xnXqVdgU
Legal Immigrants Rally San Jose: Why Am I Here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol1faX4MNU0
ImmigrationVoice spokesperson Jay Pradhan interview on Channel 14 News

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/7/prweb539766.htm

Skilled, Legal Immigrants To March In A Protest Rally In Silicon Valley

Hundreds of legal, highly-skilled workers, who feel disappointed by the recent
"flip-flop" enacted by the Department of State (DoS) and the United States
Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), with regards to eliminating the
Green-Card processing delays, plan to stage a peaceful rally to bring
attention to their issues and to demand a fair and equitable treatment. Where:
The New City Hall 200 E Santa Clara St San Jose, CA 95113 When : July 14th,
2007, 11:00 AM

(PRWEB) July 14, 2007 -- Hundreds of legal, highly-skilled workers, who feel
disappointed by the recent "flip-flop" enacted by the Department of State
(DoS) and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), with
regards to eliminating the Green-Card processing delays, plan to stage a
peaceful rally to bring attention to their issues and to demand a fair and
equitable treatment.


Where: The New City Hall 200 E Santa Clara St San Jose, CA 95113

When: July 14th, 2007.


Planned Route: 11:00 AM: Meet at San Jose City Hall at 200 E Santa Clara St.
11:30 AM: Go to the square in front of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Library (150 E San Fernando St). 12:30 PM: Walk towards 635 N 1st St through S
4th St, E San Carlos St, Market Street and N 1st Street. 1:15 PM:
Arrive at 635 N 1st St and stay till 2:00 PM 2:30 PM: back to City Hall


Why: Silicon Valley is the world's most advanced crucible of innovation, an
example that countries all over the world have tried to emulate. The success
of Silicon Valley as a global hub of innovation has a lot to do with it being
the world's foremost melting pot of highly skilled immigrants. In San Jose,
the heart of Silicon Valley, these highly skilled, legal immigrants who want
to continue that tradition of innovation by becoming permanent residents of
this country will stage a peaceful protest rally to bring awareness and
attention to their issues. The people gathered at this peaceful walk are
already huge contributors to the innovation edge of the US but their potential
is still not fully tapped as it is still being hindered by unreasonable delays
and bottlenecks in the process of gaining permanent residency (green-card).


With this effort, the skilled, legal immigrant community hopes to create
awareness about their predicament and express their anguish and frustration at
the reversal and the lack of action from the Government. These are the highly
skilled workers who have been driving the innovation in the US for many
decades and have been living in this country legally and yet, they feel that
their issues, concerns and contributions to the economy have largely gone
unnoticed. According to exhaustive research done by Vivek Wadhwa, executive-
in-residence at Duke University, if highly skilled immigrants in the U.S.
don't have a chance to stay here permanently, would-be entrepreneurs take
their skills back to their home countries--where they compete with U.S.
companies instead of founding them.
There are 140,000 Green cards allocated for highly-skilled workers and their
dependents in a fiscal year (unused visas may not be rolled over to the next
year). However, due to over-subscription, thousands of highly-skilled workers,
including engineers, scientists, MBAs and health care professionals have been
waiting patiently for years in order to be eligible to apply for their Green
cards.


Now, these highly-skilled professionals have decided to call attention to the
"broken" immigration system in the U.S. for legal immigrants. Earlier this
week - the community received widespread attention when hundreds of them sent
flowers to the USCIS Director, Emilio Gonzalez. With the San Jose rally, the
community of skilled, legal immigrants wants to put focus on people who have
abided by the law, played by the rules and ask for a fair treatment and
attention to their issues.


Media Contact: Please contact Gopal Chauhan: gsc999 @ gmail.com or
650-576-8759 for any questions.


References:


This article on the South Asian Journalist Association's forum explains the
issues facing skilled, legal professionals in the US. Media coverage:
(http://www.sajaforum.org/2007/07/immigration-ski.html)


Washington Post: A Gift From Gandhi by Xiyun Yang. July 11, 2007; Page D0
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/10/AR2007071002055.html)


The New York Times: A Floral Protest Over Job-Based Visas by Nina Bernstein.
July 11, 2007
(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/us/11visa.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)


Reuters: Indian green card seekers in flowery U.S. protest by Paul Eckert.
July 11, 2007
(http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-07-11T195553Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_India-284101-2.xml)


San Jose Mercury News: Tech Industry to keep pressing visa needs by Frank
Davies. July 9, 2007
(http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_6331029?nclick_check=1)


The Times Of India: Green Card Hopefuls Resort to Gandhigiri in US by
Chidanand Rajghatta. July 7, 2007
(http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Green_card_hopefuls_to_resort_to_Gandhigiri/articleshow/2183334.cms)


The New York Times: Immigration Malpractice. July 7, 2007
(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/07/opinion/07sat1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)


The New York Times: Suit Planned Over Visas for the Highly Skilled by Julia
Preston. July 6, 2007
(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/06/us/06visa.htmlex=1184558400&en=45667181c44bc1ee&ei=5070&emc=eta1)


The Wall Street Journal: Reversal Frustrates Green-Card Applicants by Miriam
Jordan. July 5, 2007
(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118359095890657571.html?mod=googlenews_wsj)



San Jose Mercury News: Green card cutback would hurt valley by L.A. Chung.
June 6, 2007 (http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_6072053?nclick_check=1)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Newsletter Homepage:
http://www.JobDestruction.com/shameh1b/JobDestructionNews.htm

Support this Newsletter and www.JobDestruction.com by donating:
www.zazona.com/Donations.htm

To Be removed from this mailing list, reply to this email with UNSUbSCRIBE in
the subject window







Back to archives