Wall Street Journal
By Laura Meckler
April 3, 2014
WASHINGTON—The
technology industry’s push for legislation providing more visas for
high-tech foreign workers is prompting concern that the influential
technology lobby
may be stepping back from the broader effort to pass comprehensive
legislation.
The
chief lobbyist for Compete America, which represents large technology
companies, says his group remains fully committed to the wider effort.
But the back-and-forth,
which became public this week, reflects underlying uneasiness among
supporters of an immigration overhaul, who have grown deeply frustrated
by the House’s inaction on the issue.
As
the broader legislation has faltered, some fear that smaller, less
controversial pieces of the issue—such as visas for high-tech or
agriculture workers–will clear Congress,
undermining the push for other, tougher aspects—such as a path to
citizenship for the 11 million people in the country illegally.
The
recent controversy was sparked by an opinion piece by Scott Corley, the
executive director of Compete America. In it, he makes the economic
case for more visas and
concludes: “Congress needs to act now. The House of Representatives
should take up legislation like the bipartisan SKILLS Act today and
increase the number of H-1B Visas available.” He did not mention the
broader immigration overhaul.
The
group made a similar push for a visa bill in a teleconference. And
other immigration supporters concluded that Compete America was asking
House members to move a bill
addressing their concerns by itself if the broader legislation does not
advance.
This
week, Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), an architect of the sweeping
immigration bill that passed the Senate last summer, wrote to the CEOs
of major tech companies on
Tuesday to complain. He asked them to renew their commitment to a
comprehensive bill and to pledge that they will not support stand-alone
legislation to increase the number of high-tech visas, known as H1-Bs.
“I
am troubled by recent statements suggesting that some in the technology
industry may shift their focus to passage of stand-alone legislation
that would only resolve
the industry’s concerns,” he wrote. “ This ‘divide and conquer’
approach destroys the delicate political balance achieved in our
bipartisan bill and calls into question the good faith of those who
would sacrifice millions of lives for H-1B relief.”
Mr.
Corley said in an interview that his group knows that, as a political
matter, its legislation cannot pass Congress or be signed by the
president as a stand-alone bill.
He said Compete America remains fully committed to the larger effort.
“In
no one way are we abandoning comprehensive reform,” he said. Senate
Democrats, he said, would never allow a high-tech bill to become law
without companion legislation
aiding undocumented immigrants. “What logic would we have in the House
passing something that is dead on arrival in the Senate?”
He
said his group’s goal is to spur momentum in the House on one aspect of
the issue, which will hopefully lead to broader movement on the larger
debate.
But
the rumors that the tech industry is changing its strategy have
impacted advocates for immigrants, who fear they will be sold out, said
another lobbyist for high-tech.
“For
people on the left, all this did was fuel suspicion that this was
always the deal and tech doesn’t care about the undocumented,” this
lobbyist said.
Frank
Sharry, executive director for America’s Voice and a leading advocate
for immigrants, said he had heard the rumors and found them disturbing
but is confident that
any effort along these lines, if it exists, will fail.
“Annoyed? Yes. Worried? No,” he wrote in an email.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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