Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) blasted Rep. Steve King (R-IA) for opposing amnesty for illegal immigrant DREAMers who enlist in the military and falsely perpetuated the myth that American high-tech companies face a shortage of American high-tech workers.
Speaking on the Senate floor on Thursday, Schumer first said that it was a “shame” and a “disgrace” that King is “calling the shots of the entire House Republicans on immigration,” and, as a result, King has three wins, while the Republicans and the rest of America are winless on the amnesty issue.
He said House Republicans have “handed the gavel of leadership” to King, who was “manning the watch towers 24/7 to make sure” amnesty is not passed. King has repeatedly promised to be “ever vigilant” in making sure the House does not sneakily pass amnesty legislation.
Schumer praised House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA) before saying King’s rhetoric on immigration is “beyond the pale.” He said Republicans have given King the “keys to the kingdom” on immigration reform and blasted King for opposing the ENLIST Act that would grant automatic citizenship to illegal immigrant DREAMers who join the military.
Schumer, who co-wrote the Senate’s amnesty bill and said immigration could pass by “June or July,” tried to make King the face of the opposition by saying he “spews hatred” and “calls the shots.”
Schumer then claimed, contrary to the evidence, that President Barack Obama was actually enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.
“Now, the record shows that he does enforce the law,” King said, even though Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has thoroughly debunked the notion that Obama is the “deporter in chief.”
He also ginned up the false notion that high-tech companies cannot find American workers to fill job shortages.
“America is growing weary of Republicans talking a good game on immigration while high-tech businesses can’t get the labor they need to grow and create American jobs.”
The Senate’s bill would double or triple the number of high-tech visas at a time when Hal Salzman, a Rutgers professor and labor specialist, determined that though there are roughly 180,000 job openings in the STEM fields, “U.S. colleges and universities supply 500,000 graduates.”
Wages in the high-tech industry have stagnated since 2010, and many in the industry have said they have unstable careers with increasing job insecurity, as Harvard Professor Michael Teitelbaum recently noted. And even though U.C. Davis professor Norm Matloff found that H1-B workers are often less-skilled than their American counterparts and hired at lower wages, they are still used to offshore American jobs, as Ron Hira, an expert on H1-B visas, explained.
Numerous studies have also debunked the notion that there is a shortage of American high-tech workers.
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