Re: 买了lamb's ear的种子来种，居然活了两个苗苗# gardening - 拈花惹草
N*E
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Here is IV's response:
Thanks for sharing. It seems this guy wrote this and directed at our
messages. So let us respond as fairly as possible.
First of all, based on this write-up we believe that this person doesn't
know much about how the advocacy works. We think that anyone talking about
Admin fix for recapture just doesn't seem to know what they are talking. So
we think most of this is unrealistic number-throwing exercise to somehow
make a show that someone is in the know.
Healthcare.gov was close to a billion dollar project. We don't need to
remind anyone about the "technical difficulties" associated with it. "
Technical difficulties" are possible and can delay announcements, and they
did as we are told by the Administration. Some people will smell what they
want to smell. We are honest in sharing the developments and don't have to
explain it to this guy the least. For others, as we shared earlier, this is
what the Administration told us and this is what we shared with our members.
If this guy has a problem with the term "technical difficulties", then it
sounds more like their personal problem.
And lastly, this post seem to suggest that the Administration delayed making
public announcement because somehow people came to know there was going to
be a public announcement, which is meant for public? We must admit that we
have read many weird things online but this whopper tops them all. We can
share this with confidence because we have been told the real reason for the
delay, and this is not it.
At one time this guy said nothing was supposed to happen on Monday. Then he
seems to suggest that Administration delayed because of IV. If you talk to
him, ask him, which one is it?
"Let me put a few things into perspective. In the past, I worked as a
lobbyist on Capitol Hill for a major financial institution. We spent the
better part of a year, and tens of thousands of dollars, successfully
inserting a provision into a major immigration bill that was signed into law
. I know what is involved in getting Congress to amend the law and getting
agencies to change their policies. It is heavy lifting.
CompeteAmerica has an army of lobbyists. They have spent more than One
Billion Dollars on immigration lobbying efforts (including recapture and
reinterpretation). Their lobbyists have personally visited all five hundred
and thirty five members of Congress multiple times to push for reforms. They
have met with agency officials many, many times to push for administrative
reforms. They have met with White House officials to push for reforms.
Now, don't you think it is a bit presumptuous of a small volunteer
organization to claim credit for the heavy lifting done by CompeteAmerica?"
Doesn't the first paragraph here seem to imply pay-to-play situation which
is illegal in the context of lobbying? We never ask or suggest our members
to engage in illegal activities like pay-to-play. We ask you to please not
follow anyone if they suggest you to engage in pay-to-play or any other
illegal activity.
We think that the rest of this narrative is all over the place so we will
make an effort to adequately address rest of this post.
For the information of our members, Compete America is a coalition and
Immigration Voice is member of this coalition. See here: http://www.competeamerica.org/2011-members/
We think it is a false statement that "Compete America has spent One Billion
Dollars on immigration lobbying efforts". Not even close. We think that
even Compete America will reject that statement :-)
Compete America's top priority is to increase H-1B visas numbers. Because
the work of the coalition is associated with skilled-immigration, IV is one
of the members of this coalition. But our priority is different - IV's
priority is eliminating EB green card backlogs to improve the quality of
life of backlogged immigrants. Like any other advocacy coalition, this
coalition has partners/members with different priorities in the same space,
which is normal.
Without a doubt money is important to run advocacy organization, for
conducting events and push for agenda/bills, but money is not everything. If
money could buy Congress to pass bills then why is H-1B bill not already
passed? For over 10 years companies have been lobbying for Congress to pass
a bill to increase H-1B visas. It is difficult to keep a score of the number
of champions of H-1B visa bill. If Compete America has spent a billion
dollars, then why hasn't H-1B visa bill not passed, because as this
narrative said, seemingly someone "successfully inserting a provision into a
major immigration bill that was signed into law" which to us sound like a
bribe of "tens of thousands of dollars". If Compete America "have spent more
than One Billion Dollars on immigration lobbying efforts (including
recapture and reinterpretation)", then why is recapture not done yet? Why is
reinterpretation/dependents count not fixed? Don't some genius lawyers keep
posting that recapture and dependents count fix is slam dunk Admin fix?
Then why is it not done even after spending a billion dollars. It is
reported that in the last election cycle, each candidate spend close to a
billion dollars on the election. Is increasing H-1B visa more expensive than
Presidential election? Why would that be when Compete America “have
personally visited all 535 members of Congress multiple times”?
Let us also share other pertinent information with the members. Why don't
you search online for any company or immigration law firm that is advocating
for employees being able to change jobs while waiting for green card, get
EAD/AP at I-140 stage, and employer not being able to withdraw approved I-
140, getting access to your immigration paperwork/file and ability to file
AOS when the VB dates are not current. Let's see how many such companies or
an immigration law firm you are able to find. We don’t think that you can
find more than a handful company/law firm talking about these fixes but
these fixes will not appear on their priority list. Rather how many people
heard on the USCIS conference call that immigration lawyers were commenting
and suggesting USCIS to not let immigrants change jobs or get EADs after I-
140?
It is public knowledge that Compete America opposed Warren amendment #1532
in Immigration Reform bill of 2013 (S744) because that amendment would have
given certain basic freedoms to skilled immigrants. We have differences with
groups that oppose Warren amendment type of fixes. We know that there are
companies that have advocated opposing our Admin fixes designed to free
skilled immigrant workers from the clutches of the employers and lawyers. So
we think that anyone suggesting that Compete America is doing heavy lifting
for these Admin fixes for immigrants and EB backlog aren’t telling the
truth, not even close. Adding more people to the system/backlogs is not the
same as working to address the problems of existing immigrants in the
backlogs.
It is also important for people to know the truth about our work. IV has
also met with all 435 House offices and 100 Senate offices, many times over.
And we can surely tell you that we did not spend a billion dollars. We have
also been fortunate to share our fixes with the DHS and White House staff,
which is why our fixes made into President’s Executive Action on
Immigration. Why else do you think the fixes end up in the final package?
Who else asked for these fixes? Companies/Lawyers? Can you imagine companies
or lawyers asking to free up skilled immigrants from their clutches?
We would like to share with our members that in last 6 years, Immigration
Voice members have organized over 15+ large advocacy events in Washington
with over 3000+ Congressional meetings in DC and many more in the local
districts. We have always honestly advocated that skilled immigrants must be
able to live free from the clutches of their employers. We believe that in
a system when immigrants have fewer rights to change employer, such an
employee-employer relationship where employee is bound to the employer for a
long period of times (spanning decades) often leads to lower wages or
exploitation of employee, creating incentives for bad employers to hire
immigrants over US workers. So the system creates an environment of
exploitation of immigrants on H-1B and L-1 visa, and it puts US workers at
disadvantage in the marketplace, discriminating against US workers.
The current system makes non-immigrant and pending immigrant application
employees dependent on employers for a long time, often exceeding over a
decade. The long backlogs make pending immigrant petition employees as
probationary as a summer intern and as capable as an accomplished veteran.
This combination of a bonded but highly productive immigrant employee is so
attractive to employers that it makes the native born talent uncompetitive
in the job market. So in the best interest of US workers and immigrant
workers, it's important to level the playing field and have no one in
American labor force be indebted to one employer for a long time.
In our Congressional meetings we try to share this with every office. And we
honestly advocate for a system in which immigrants are free to change
employer with as much ease as others in the labor pool so that there are no
wrong incentives for bad employers to hire immigrants over US workers. Like
any other movement in human history, we also seek freedom so we can live up
to our full potential so most immigration lawyers can no longer nexus with
employers to exploit unsuspecting immigrants when they come in.
It’s clear that the problem runs deep in this very complex system. And we
have to be honest conversation if we want to fix the problem. We believe
that the current immigration system is rigged by handful of large tech
companies that try to enforce silo-monopoly over tech labor and it puts a
fancy label of “high-skilled immigration” on this silo-monopoly system.
But as we have witnessed, there is a great invisible power when people
organize themselves to speak up to demand a more fair system. That is why
there is greater awareness in many Congressional offices and they are aware
of what goes on in the trenches when immigrants live at the mercy of their
employers who often exploit because it is far more difficult for an
immigrant employee stuck in green card backlog to change jobs without
putting their pending/ongoing green card petition at risk of being revoked.
We believe that existing limits on the freedom and job mobility of
employment-based immigrants make the American economy less dynamic.
Immigrants should not be constrained in their career choices while working
and contributing to the U.S economy. Rather, the system should encourage
immigrants to work where they will provide the U.S. economy with maximum
benefit. Not silo-monopoly, but market forces are the only effective way to
achieve that objective. We ought to want to unleash the full potential of
immigrants for the benefit of all society, rather than forfeiting much of
the potential economic gain for society so that specific or selected
existing employers can harness some lesser percentage of the benefit for
themselves.
Clearly this is complex issue. That is why we ask our members stuck in
backlogs to see through the bullshit posted online and make up your own mind
to understand who is on which side. It's no secret that we have never been
big fans of immigration lawyers because we believe (which is why it is also
our policy position) that most immigration lawyers and most employers are
part of nexus that promotes and protects a system of exploitation of
immigrant employees and a system of discrimination of US workers. We did
mention this in our comments that we submitted to the Administration/DHS in
our response to the RFI and we make it a point to share this position with
every Congressional office every time we meet.
We ask our members to not be intimidated by immigration lawyers. We think
that the legislative priorities of companies, immigration lawyers, or their
Advocacy organizations are different from our legislative priorities for
employment based fixes. We would caution our members so you are careful when
looking at solicited or unsolicited advice about advocacy from any
immigration lawyer. Because the more and better informed people are often,
the more successful people
Thanks for sharing. It seems this guy wrote this and directed at our
messages. So let us respond as fairly as possible.
First of all, based on this write-up we believe that this person doesn't
know much about how the advocacy works. We think that anyone talking about
Admin fix for recapture just doesn't seem to know what they are talking. So
we think most of this is unrealistic number-throwing exercise to somehow
make a show that someone is in the know.
Healthcare.gov was close to a billion dollar project. We don't need to
remind anyone about the "technical difficulties" associated with it. "
Technical difficulties" are possible and can delay announcements, and they
did as we are told by the Administration. Some people will smell what they
want to smell. We are honest in sharing the developments and don't have to
explain it to this guy the least. For others, as we shared earlier, this is
what the Administration told us and this is what we shared with our members.
If this guy has a problem with the term "technical difficulties", then it
sounds more like their personal problem.
And lastly, this post seem to suggest that the Administration delayed making
public announcement because somehow people came to know there was going to
be a public announcement, which is meant for public? We must admit that we
have read many weird things online but this whopper tops them all. We can
share this with confidence because we have been told the real reason for the
delay, and this is not it.
At one time this guy said nothing was supposed to happen on Monday. Then he
seems to suggest that Administration delayed because of IV. If you talk to
him, ask him, which one is it?
"Let me put a few things into perspective. In the past, I worked as a
lobbyist on Capitol Hill for a major financial institution. We spent the
better part of a year, and tens of thousands of dollars, successfully
inserting a provision into a major immigration bill that was signed into law
. I know what is involved in getting Congress to amend the law and getting
agencies to change their policies. It is heavy lifting.
CompeteAmerica has an army of lobbyists. They have spent more than One
Billion Dollars on immigration lobbying efforts (including recapture and
reinterpretation). Their lobbyists have personally visited all five hundred
and thirty five members of Congress multiple times to push for reforms. They
have met with agency officials many, many times to push for administrative
reforms. They have met with White House officials to push for reforms.
Now, don't you think it is a bit presumptuous of a small volunteer
organization to claim credit for the heavy lifting done by CompeteAmerica?"
Doesn't the first paragraph here seem to imply pay-to-play situation which
is illegal in the context of lobbying? We never ask or suggest our members
to engage in illegal activities like pay-to-play. We ask you to please not
follow anyone if they suggest you to engage in pay-to-play or any other
illegal activity.
We think that the rest of this narrative is all over the place so we will
make an effort to adequately address rest of this post.
For the information of our members, Compete America is a coalition and
Immigration Voice is member of this coalition. See here: http://www.competeamerica.org/2011-members/
We think it is a false statement that "Compete America has spent One Billion
Dollars on immigration lobbying efforts". Not even close. We think that
even Compete America will reject that statement :-)
Compete America's top priority is to increase H-1B visas numbers. Because
the work of the coalition is associated with skilled-immigration, IV is one
of the members of this coalition. But our priority is different - IV's
priority is eliminating EB green card backlogs to improve the quality of
life of backlogged immigrants. Like any other advocacy coalition, this
coalition has partners/members with different priorities in the same space,
which is normal.
Without a doubt money is important to run advocacy organization, for
conducting events and push for agenda/bills, but money is not everything. If
money could buy Congress to pass bills then why is H-1B bill not already
passed? For over 10 years companies have been lobbying for Congress to pass
a bill to increase H-1B visas. It is difficult to keep a score of the number
of champions of H-1B visa bill. If Compete America has spent a billion
dollars, then why hasn't H-1B visa bill not passed, because as this
narrative said, seemingly someone "successfully inserting a provision into a
major immigration bill that was signed into law" which to us sound like a
bribe of "tens of thousands of dollars". If Compete America "have spent more
than One Billion Dollars on immigration lobbying efforts (including
recapture and reinterpretation)", then why is recapture not done yet? Why is
reinterpretation/dependents count not fixed? Don't some genius lawyers keep
posting that recapture and dependents count fix is slam dunk Admin fix?
Then why is it not done even after spending a billion dollars. It is
reported that in the last election cycle, each candidate spend close to a
billion dollars on the election. Is increasing H-1B visa more expensive than
Presidential election? Why would that be when Compete America “have
personally visited all 535 members of Congress multiple times”?
Let us also share other pertinent information with the members. Why don't
you search online for any company or immigration law firm that is advocating
for employees being able to change jobs while waiting for green card, get
EAD/AP at I-140 stage, and employer not being able to withdraw approved I-
140, getting access to your immigration paperwork/file and ability to file
AOS when the VB dates are not current. Let's see how many such companies or
an immigration law firm you are able to find. We don’t think that you can
find more than a handful company/law firm talking about these fixes but
these fixes will not appear on their priority list. Rather how many people
heard on the USCIS conference call that immigration lawyers were commenting
and suggesting USCIS to not let immigrants change jobs or get EADs after I-
140?
It is public knowledge that Compete America opposed Warren amendment #1532
in Immigration Reform bill of 2013 (S744) because that amendment would have
given certain basic freedoms to skilled immigrants. We have differences with
groups that oppose Warren amendment type of fixes. We know that there are
companies that have advocated opposing our Admin fixes designed to free
skilled immigrant workers from the clutches of the employers and lawyers. So
we think that anyone suggesting that Compete America is doing heavy lifting
for these Admin fixes for immigrants and EB backlog aren’t telling the
truth, not even close. Adding more people to the system/backlogs is not the
same as working to address the problems of existing immigrants in the
backlogs.
It is also important for people to know the truth about our work. IV has
also met with all 435 House offices and 100 Senate offices, many times over.
And we can surely tell you that we did not spend a billion dollars. We have
also been fortunate to share our fixes with the DHS and White House staff,
which is why our fixes made into President’s Executive Action on
Immigration. Why else do you think the fixes end up in the final package?
Who else asked for these fixes? Companies/Lawyers? Can you imagine companies
or lawyers asking to free up skilled immigrants from their clutches?
We would like to share with our members that in last 6 years, Immigration
Voice members have organized over 15+ large advocacy events in Washington
with over 3000+ Congressional meetings in DC and many more in the local
districts. We have always honestly advocated that skilled immigrants must be
able to live free from the clutches of their employers. We believe that in
a system when immigrants have fewer rights to change employer, such an
employee-employer relationship where employee is bound to the employer for a
long period of times (spanning decades) often leads to lower wages or
exploitation of employee, creating incentives for bad employers to hire
immigrants over US workers. So the system creates an environment of
exploitation of immigrants on H-1B and L-1 visa, and it puts US workers at
disadvantage in the marketplace, discriminating against US workers.
The current system makes non-immigrant and pending immigrant application
employees dependent on employers for a long time, often exceeding over a
decade. The long backlogs make pending immigrant petition employees as
probationary as a summer intern and as capable as an accomplished veteran.
This combination of a bonded but highly productive immigrant employee is so
attractive to employers that it makes the native born talent uncompetitive
in the job market. So in the best interest of US workers and immigrant
workers, it's important to level the playing field and have no one in
American labor force be indebted to one employer for a long time.
In our Congressional meetings we try to share this with every office. And we
honestly advocate for a system in which immigrants are free to change
employer with as much ease as others in the labor pool so that there are no
wrong incentives for bad employers to hire immigrants over US workers. Like
any other movement in human history, we also seek freedom so we can live up
to our full potential so most immigration lawyers can no longer nexus with
employers to exploit unsuspecting immigrants when they come in.
It’s clear that the problem runs deep in this very complex system. And we
have to be honest conversation if we want to fix the problem. We believe
that the current immigration system is rigged by handful of large tech
companies that try to enforce silo-monopoly over tech labor and it puts a
fancy label of “high-skilled immigration” on this silo-monopoly system.
But as we have witnessed, there is a great invisible power when people
organize themselves to speak up to demand a more fair system. That is why
there is greater awareness in many Congressional offices and they are aware
of what goes on in the trenches when immigrants live at the mercy of their
employers who often exploit because it is far more difficult for an
immigrant employee stuck in green card backlog to change jobs without
putting their pending/ongoing green card petition at risk of being revoked.
We believe that existing limits on the freedom and job mobility of
employment-based immigrants make the American economy less dynamic.
Immigrants should not be constrained in their career choices while working
and contributing to the U.S economy. Rather, the system should encourage
immigrants to work where they will provide the U.S. economy with maximum
benefit. Not silo-monopoly, but market forces are the only effective way to
achieve that objective. We ought to want to unleash the full potential of
immigrants for the benefit of all society, rather than forfeiting much of
the potential economic gain for society so that specific or selected
existing employers can harness some lesser percentage of the benefit for
themselves.
Clearly this is complex issue. That is why we ask our members stuck in
backlogs to see through the bullshit posted online and make up your own mind
to understand who is on which side. It's no secret that we have never been
big fans of immigration lawyers because we believe (which is why it is also
our policy position) that most immigration lawyers and most employers are
part of nexus that promotes and protects a system of exploitation of
immigrant employees and a system of discrimination of US workers. We did
mention this in our comments that we submitted to the Administration/DHS in
our response to the RFI and we make it a point to share this position with
every Congressional office every time we meet.
We ask our members to not be intimidated by immigration lawyers. We think
that the legislative priorities of companies, immigration lawyers, or their
Advocacy organizations are different from our legislative priorities for
employment based fixes. We would caution our members so you are careful when
looking at solicited or unsolicited advice about advocacy from any
immigration lawyer. Because the more and better informed people are often,
the more successful people
