Tancredo's un-REAL GUEST Act of 2005

Date: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 12:59 PM

JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

by Rob Sanchez
September 21, 2005 No. 1334

There is a new bill in Congress to eliminate H-1B, but before you break out the bottles of champagne, read the rest of this newsletter because I'm going to have to spoil the party.

In the year 2002 I warned that Rep. Tom Tancredo was writing a new guest-worker bill that would allow almost unlimited numbers of foreign workers to get temporary visas. Mainstream immigration reform groups such as FAIR and NumbersUSA sat on their hands as this developed into full blown legislation in 2003. Instead of opposing the bill in its early stages when it could have been stopped, the Washington D.C. strategists tacitly supported and nurtured it. Don't expect to go to their websites to see anything about Tancredo's bill because you will find very little. Their policy is one of silent support.

With friends like this, who needs enemies?

Rep. Tom Tancredo is considered by almost everyone in the immigration reform movement as a paragon of virtue - our one true friend on Capitol Hill. I have often praised Tancredo for his tough stance on immigration, and his opposition to H-1B, but in this particular instance Tancredo deserves scorn for resurrecting his guest-worker legislation.

Be Careful What you Ask For ... You might just get it

If you ask people at FAIR or NumbersUSA why they haven't taken action to oppose this bill, their answer will run along the line that the bill is only emblematic and that it won't pass because it emphasizes immigration enforcement. They are not concerned with the fact that Tancredo is using jobs as a gambit for getting tougher border enforcement such as troops on the border.

Tancredo has given a big boost to those who support guest-worker bills being pushed by President Bush, Kyl/Cornyn, and McCain/Kennedy. Cheap labor advocates and shortage shouters, thanks to Tancredo, can now rightfully argue that if a stalwart immigration restrictionist supports guest-worker bills, then there is no doubt that the U.S. should allow millions of foreign workers to get visas. Tancredo's bill is an affirmation that there is a shortage of workers in the U.S. that are qualified to do the job. He is handing the cheap labor lobby a great reason to propagandize in favor of more H-1Bs and other types of foreign workers.

While Tancredo's bill might never make it through Congress, it has been incorporated by other bills that are more likely to pass. As an example, both the Bush and the McCain/Kennedy bills have an internet job posting provision that is very similar to Tancredo's bill. Copycat legislation will occur as other politicians merge the various immigration bills together into a bi-partisan agreement. Tancredo just handed them a loaded weapon that they will use to kill jobs.

I have analyzed Tancredo's bill in detail in the past so there is no reason for me to repeat it in this newsletter. Not much has changed in the bill since 2003 so you can use the list of archived newsletters below if you want a more detailed analysis. Go to the online archive to view them.

In short, Tancredo proposes to get rid of H-1B, H-2B and other types of nonimmigrant visas and combine them into a generic "H" visa. Programmers and engineers from India will get the same visa as cabbage pickers from Mexico, and the numbers of visas will be dramatically increased. If lumping professionals and day laborers into one category isn't enough to make you feel uncomfortable then the preamble to his bill will. It's a major cause for alarm because he has adopted the libertarian idea that employers should dictate how many visas are issued based on how many they decide to hire. It's a de-facto policy of unlimited visas, and a total capitulation to corporate greed over the national interests.

Establishes the framework for a truly temporary guest
worker program that responds to market conditions,
rather than setting arbitrary caps,

Predictably the bill contains the obligatory promise to protect American workers. It's very cynical that Tancredo would slip this into his bill since he has so often talked about the difficulty of protecting American workers from employers who abuse H-1B.

Prescreens foreign workers so they are available to
employers who can establish a true need for additional,
short-term labor, while ensuring that U.S. workers are
not harmed.

Tancredo's elimination of caps in favor of a market-based limit will probably draw praise from Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), who recently said, "I've never believed the cap was necessary or appropriate." Bill Gates is another fan of foreign workers who would probably applaud Tancredo's elimination of caps. The Bill Gates quote below bears a close resemblance to the statement in the Real Guest Act. Perhaps Bill Gates helped write Tancredo's bill!

But he [Bill Gates] reserved his sharpest criticism
for the visa caps, which he called "almost a case of
a centrally controlled economy."

"If the demand is there, why have the regulation at
all?" he said.

On the summary page of the bill at Tancredo's website (see link directly below) is the title: "Rewarding Employers that Abide by the Law and Guaranteeing Uniform Enforcement to Stop Terrorism". Apparently the way to sell any type of bad legislation nowadays is to claim that it will thwart Bin Laden or other assorted bad guys. It is my opinion that American citizens are under far more threat by destructive guest-worker bills than terrorism, but obviously there are those in Washington D.C. that feel otherwise.

Tancredo has a summary of the bill at his website. For a much longer full version go to Thomas.gov.
http://tancredo.house.gov/press/pressers/0719LongSummary.htm

History of Tancredo's Guest Worker Bills

2002 - "Meeting American's Labor Needs Fairly Act" (draft)
2003 - "Be Real Act" [H.R.3534]
2005 - "Real Guest Act" [H.R. 3333]

Newsletters about Tancredo's bill

November 01, 2002 Tancredo's "Trick or Treat"
November 03, 2002 H-2C and Tancredo
November 04, 2002 What Tancredo Will Accept
January 06, 2003 Tancredo's Million Worker Visa Bill
July 22, 2003 Rep. Tom Tancredo - Friend or Foe?
November 20, 2003 Tancredo's Un-Real Act
November 26, 2003 Tancredo's Turkey - the "Be Real Act of 2003" Part 1
November 26, 2003 Tancredo's Turkey - the "Be Real Act of 2003" Part 2
December 02, 2003 "Be Real Act of 2003" Part 4

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