Visa fraud is trickier migration dilemma
It was about a decade ago that the tide of sympathy in my immigrant family turned less sympathetic toward immigrants.
The cause: My cousin lost his well-paying job in a telecommunications company to a foreign worker hired to do the same job for less money.
I was reminded of this June 6 while listening to a background-only call with two senior Department of Labor officials. The purpose of the call was to expand upon an announcement by the federal agency to crack down on visa fraud.
The steps include: A broader approach to civil investigations to enforce labor protections, proposing changes to the Labor Condition Application to identify systematic violations and potential fraud, coordinating administration and enforcement of visa programs to make criminal fraud referrals to the Office of the Inspector General, establishing a working group to avoid duplication of efforts and maximize the efficiency in managing visa programs.
The purpose of these types of visa programs is to bring skilled workers and professionals to the United States to fill needs in the labor market.
The reason: America’s universities and colleges historically have not churned out enough grads in STEM topics: math, science, engineering and technology.
Hence the liberal arts degree vs. the science degree debates we’ve been hearing in the past few years.
That said, these visa programs have also been abused, resulting in U.S. citizens and legal residents earning higher salaries being displaced by foreign workers willing to work for less.
“We believe there is lots of fraud in this program,” said one of the senior Labor Department officials speaking to reporters on the June 6 call.
My cousin was one of the victims — and he is far from the only one.
That’s why immigration reform advocates sometimes insist this piece of the immigration conundrum is the most demoralizing, even though it does not draw as much attention as fence-jumping and building walls.
Their argument is it robs natural and naturalized U.S. citizens of well-paying jobs despite the sacrifices they made to earn degrees and participate in vocational education. These are the jobs, they say, that people really want and need and that provide economic mobility and a shot at that American Dream.
Along with the announcement, Labor Department officials circulated a list of recent companies and individuals facing prosecution and penalties for employment visa fraud. I noted that a number of the examples cited in that briefing document dealt with technology and health care — two sectors that generally pay better.
In fact, one of the fraud cases cited involved a physician who obtained a visa to come to South Florida claiming he sought a “managerial role” at a health care office when in fact he intended to work as a plastic surgeon.
The senior official said the examples cited “seem to be a representation” — meaning, yes, information technology and health care are sectors where you see more visa fraud.
“The acceptable fraud rate in this program is zero,” he added.