The Justice Department's (DOJ) Civil Rights Division and the Labor Department (DOL) released a memorandum of understanding Tuesday, announcing the agencies' joint effort to target companies that exhibit "unlawful discrimination" against American workers by hiring foreign labor. These employers, often times, hire cheap foreign labor through the H-1B and H-2B visa programs.
U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner Peter Kirsanow, in a letter to President Obama and the Congressional Black Caucus, warns that “(g)ranting work authorization to millions of illegal immigrants will devastate the black community, which is already struggling in the wake of the recession.” He also highlights the adverse effects an executive amnesty would have on U.S.-born high-skilled STEM workers.
A new study from the Center for Immigration Studies asks whether or not there is a shortage of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workers in the United States, and their resounding conclusion is "no". The report released today and written by CIS researchers Steve Camarota and Karen Zeigler found that there are more than 5 million native-born Americans with an undergraduate degree in STEM, but not working in STEM with another 1.2 million degree holders not working at all. Additionally, there are 1.6 million foreign-born residents with an undergraduate degree in STEM that are also not working in STEM fields or working at all.
