From Lou Dobbs Tonight 3-23-07
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0703/23/ldt.01.html

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And as Lisa Sylvester now reports, the two sides are a little bit apart on the legislative proposal that would give amnesty to as many as 20 million illegal aliens.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Talk show radio hosts on the left and the right are talking up immigration. In Washington they tangled with each other and corporate representatives at a forum sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

MARTHA ZOLLER, WDUN IN GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA: Go ask any county commission across this country, where do they have the biggest stress on their services by illegal immigrants? It is the detention center, which is paid for by the county. It is the school and it is the hospital.

LIONEL, WABC IN NEW YORK: If I could snap my finger right now, hypothetically, and every undocumented illegal Mexican laborer just vanished right now, how much would an apple be? Or Applebee’s? How much would gardening be?

SYLVESTER: The U.S. Chamber and other business groups make no bones about it. They want a steady, guaranteed flow of low-skilled foreign workers to enter freely into the United States for years to come. Claiming they did not get guest workers when Congress passed the 1986 amnesty.

LAURA REIFF, ESSENTIAL WORKER IMMIGRATION COALITION: What didn’t happen was there was no program allow — that would allow workers to come in at a reasonable rate. No program at all for what we call essential workers, the lesser skilled workers, workers that have less than a bachelor’s degree.

SYLVESTER: Corporate groups want Congress to allow in 400,000 new workers. That’s the number they’ve estimated is needed to offset the current number of illegal aliens coming into the United States.

But many others do not want to see a guest worker program. The AFL-CIO doesn’t want it, and conservatives don’t want it. Several talk show hosts say many in the public do not back a guest worker program either.

DOM GIORDANO, WPHT IN PHILADELPHIA: There’s a reason why Lou Dobbs show is so hot. There’s a reason why that show has taken off. And it’s not fear. It’s because the average American is bonding with that.

SYLVESTER: Americans increasingly believe illegal immigration has slipped out of control, even as employers push for more cheap labor. (END VIDEOTAPE)

SYLVESTER: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce argues that businesses need a guest worker program to replace an aging U.S. population and to, quote, “fill jobs Americans won’t do.”

But the reality, Lou, as you well know, is that there are several guest worker programs already in place. H2B program brings in 6,000 unskilled workers every year, the H2A program that brings in thousands of agricultural laborers annually, and the H1B program that employers use to hire professional skilled foreign workers — Lou.

DOBBS: At typically a discount of about 20 percent to U.S. wage — wages. You know, Lisa, by the way I’m kind of hurt. The Chamber of Commerce didn’t invite me. Did they invite you?

SYLVESTER: I did not get an invitation either to the forum. I’m sorry to say that.

DOBBS: Yes, because let’s look at a couple of facts here, if we may, that maybe the chamber forgot to mention.

We have 2 million people legally admitted to the United States each year. The fact is, 400,000 H1B visas and others are granted each year, specifically for that work.

Nine hundred thousand other employment visas are issued. And we have the L1 visas, students brought into this country, 600,000 students issued, as well.

Now, if some — some idiot — I mean, there’s almost half a million temporary employment transfers. Folks, we’re talking over 2 million people a year.

And no country, no three countries can come close to us on our immigration, legal immigration levels. And we should be very proud of that. I am.

But big business is lying through its teeth. This president is lying through his teeth, and Senator Kennedy is lying through his teeth, and Senator McCain is lying through his teeth on the issue of illegal immigration. They are pandering to big business. Big business is demanding something it doesn’t need.

And you know, Lisa, one of the other things, did anybody there at that little forum, did anybody mention that the four areas in which illegal aliens are most typically employed, landscaping, leisure, hospitality and construction? Did anybody mention that wages in all four industries have declined?

SYLVESTER: They did not mention that, Lou they did have representatives from those industries, too. But that’s a point that often is glossed over and people don’t necessarily focus on.

DOBBS: They don’t want to focus on the facts. They don’t want to focus on the facts that this country is bringing in millions of people lawfully every year.

These are some of the most scurrilous, disgusting, deceitful people ever involved in a national public debate. I mean, I am just disgusted with the lack of both the absolute demand for honesty and accuracy in reporting and the numbers and the facts. Because the American people can always make a great decision, so long as the facts are put before them.

Lisa, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Lisa Sylvester from Washington.

Turning now to the war on our middle class. Big business demanding Congress make it easier for foreign workers to take American jobs. Kitty Pilgrim reports now on how that demand is putting our working middle class at risk.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The nation’s business lobby wants to give visas to more foreign high-tech workers. They instituted language in a bill introduced by representatives Gutierrez and Flake to increase the number of high tech visas available to foreign workers. They say putting a cap on the H1B visas would force U.S. companies to outsource jobs.

ROBERT HOFFMAN, COMPETE AMERICA: When you talk about offshoring, the problems of offshoring, this visa cap is promoting offshoring. And that’s why we want to reform it.

PILGRIM: Congress limits the number of H1B visas to 65,000 a year. But USCIS approves thousands more than that. Twenty-seven thousand five hundred more are allowed in for non-profits and educational institutions, another 20,000 for foreign students at U.S. universities to stay and work after graduation.

Even with that staggering number of visas, some claim there should be no limit on the number of foreign tech workers who can come to live in the United States.

BILL GATES, MICROSOFT FOUNDER: Now we face a critical shortage of scientific talent. And there’s only one way to solve that crisis today: open our doors to highly talented scientists and engineers who want to live, work and pay taxes here.

PILGRIM: But some say there’s absolutely no shortage of American workers, because jobs are scarce and wages are flat. In fact, a recent GAO report says companies pay H1B visa holders less.

PAUL ALMEIDA, AFL-CIO: U.S. tech workers are out of work twice as long as they have been in the past. The average tech worker is out for work upwards of ten months. If there was truly a shortage, this duration would be a month or less for them to find work.

PILGRIM: The bill proposes increasing the limit of H1B visas to 115,000, with a 20 percent raise each year, and would allow foreign students with advanced degrees in math, science or technology to work without a visa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: Now, this bill pays lip service to helping American workers, saying employers must search for U.S. workers first. But business groups like Compete America admit it really would help them recruit foreign students as they graduate from U.S. colleges and allow them to stay and work in the United States — Lou.

DOBBS: Those here legally and who could be given work visas, that’s great. But what these companies are really doing, whether it’s on our border, on Capitol Hill, they’re really saying to this Congress and this president, who listens, of course, that regulation doesn’t matter. Public policy doesn’t matter.

That corporate America has a better idea of what this nation should be than the rest of us fools who make up the body politic. This is elitist arrogance of the worst sort.

PILGRIM: Well, it’s very clear that they want no limits whatsoever. And they’re trying to get that.

DOBBS: And yet we have the most generous legal immigration policies in the world, by far.

Kitty, thank you very much. Kitty Pilgrim.

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