Facebook’s Favorite Part of Amnesty is Already in Trouble

Facebook’s Favorite Part of Amnesty is Already in Trouble



Obama-Zuckerberg

Obamnesty, like ObamaCare, is really a messy complicated hodgepodge of dirty deals needed to keep a coalition between lefty corporations and radical activists happy. And like ObamaCare, Obamnesty is very vulnerable to being taken apart through its holes and weak points.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg’s favorite part of amnesty that doesn’t involve more H1-B visas (Obama thus far hasn’t arrogated himself the power to legislate an expansion of visas, but probably will before too long) was OPT. But OPT is already in trouble.

A federal court gave a green light last week to a lawsuit by a union and IT workers challenging a student visa work program, known as Optional Practical Training (OPT).

The court denied a U.S. government motion to dismiss the case brought by the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, or WashTech, and three IT workers. The lawsuit alleges that the OPT program is a conduit for low-wage labor and unfair job competition.

Students still in school or recent graduates can use their student F-1 visas to take jobs through the OPT program. Employers don’t have to pay them a prevailing wage, or Medicare and Social Security taxes. These tax breaks make OPT workers “inherently cheaper” to employ than U.S. workers, the lawsuit argues.

Obama promised to expand and extend OPT just as tech workers are pushing back against it. In the tech industry, as in all other jobs, amnesty is based on repeating the lie that Americans don’t want the jobs leading to a “shortage”.

During a time of high unemployment, there is no employee shortage. The tech industry is outsourcing jobs on American soil. And now it’s facing legal pushback.

Obama had already expanded OPT two years ago. This is an even bigger expansion. It’s a gift to corruptocrats like Mark Zuckerberg who has been pushing amnesty under the cover of pro-amnesty groups, including a fake conservative group. OPT is a little reminder of what this is about.

Cheap, cheap labor.http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/technology/223607-little-known-temporary-visas-for-foreign-tech-workers-depress

OPT rivals the H-1B program in size but has no protections for college- and STEM-educated U.S. workers, such as a requirement that employers demonstrate no qualified U.S. worker was available for the job or a prevailing wage rule. As a result, OPT workers are much cheaper to employ than an American. OPT workers don’t even have to be paid the minimum wage — they can work without pay if classified as interns or be paid a “stipend” — and employers aren’t required to pay unemployment, Medicare or Social Security taxes for them. That’s probably why tech wants Obama to extend the duration of OPT.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) warns that basic data collection in OPT is so bad that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “cannot determine whether students with employment authorization are working in jobs related to their studies and not exceeding regulatory limits on unemployment.” Since ICE doesn’t know if the job requirement is being complied with, it’s unlikely a distinction that makes a difference. Moreover, OPT is missing the basic worker protections the pilot program included.

Because worker protections aren’t the point.

by Daniel Greenfield