Legislators should exclude migration issues from the multi-billion dollar bill to help U.S. companies beat China’s state-backed corporations, says a letter by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

“American competitiveness legislation should help, not hinder American workers in STEM fields,” says the May 17 letter. ” We respectfully ask that you oppose the inclusion of … anything on the [immigration] matter in the final conference report,” said the letter, signed by FAIR president Dan Stein.

Both the Senate and House have passed their own versions of the China bill.

But the House bill includes several dramatic immigration measures that would deeply damage the careers of very many U.S. college graduates.

Legislators met last week to begin negotiating a joint bill. Several Democratic legislators touted the House immigration measures, but Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) slammed the massive migration expansions added to the House version:

I’d like to emphasize that this is a China-centered bill. It’s not an immigration or climate bill. … The final bill must be laser-focused on countering the Chinese Communist Party … As a result, I will oppose the inclusion of any of the House immigration provisions in the final bill produced by this Congress.

The FAIR letter said:

First, [the House’s] America COMPETES Act contains an unrelated immigration provision that grants Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and refugee status for qualifying residents of Hong Kong and their families. It also provides 25,000 special interest visas for “highly-skilled” Hong Kong residents. However well-intended, the inclusion of this provision will not preserve freedom for Hong Kong. It will instead empower Beijing by emptying Hong Kong of talent and dissenters, and thus undermine our goals for their freedom and prosperity.

Second, and even more troublesome, the America COMPETES Act creates a new, unlimited nonimmigrant entrepreneur visa program that includes: entrepreneurs with an ownership interest in a start-up entity; essential employees of said entity; and the spouses and children of both the entity’s owners and employees. All of these individuals can adjust their status and pursue a green card. This is nothing more than another “investor visa” category similar to the controversial EB-5 and E category (E-1, E-2, and E-3) investors. FAIR has long opposed these programs. Congress would be better served finding ways to encourage and build upon American entrepreneurial ventures, rather than establishing another “golden visa” program that degrades American citizenship by relegating it to a dollar amount.

Lastly, the America COMPETES Act provides an unlimited number of green cards for high-skilled foreign nationals – such as “outstanding professors and researchers,” a well-known source of Chinese espionage. Not only is this dangerous, it does nothing to assist American-grown STEM talent which is alleged to be the entire point of the bill. Isn’t it time we stop undercutting future American talent in this manner?

“These provisions would undoubtedly reduce wages and job opportunities for Americans in STEM fields while both increasing labor competition and discouraging American students from pursuing careers in these same fields,” the letter says.

Amid the backpressure, the lobbyists backing the China-migration push recently suggested Congress pass a smaller-scale immigration inflow.

However, several migration programs — such as the H-1B program and the Optional Practical Training program. But they were quickly expanded by lobbyists and regulations — and those expanded programs were quickly endorsed by judges who deferred to their peer lawyers hired by business groups and university groups.

Since the 1990s, many U.S. companies and investors have discarded their foundation of U.S. workers in favor of a population of at least 1.5 million indentured, compliant, and lower-wage foreign visa workers.

The corporate policy ensures that many U.S. technology experts are kept out of technology jobs by foreign-born managers and that foreign workers from China and India — fill up college training slots, science laboratories, intern opportunities, and careers.

The inflow of visa workers also steers investment away from the Midwest.

The population replacement also reduces the focus on long-term research, quality, security, accuracy, and safety at companies such as Intel, Boeing, and Theranos.