Tech Companies To Lobby For Immigrant 'Dreamers' To Remain In US (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Nearly two dozen major companies in technology and other industries are planning to launch a coalition to demand legislation that would allow young, illegal immigrants a path to permanent residency, according to documents seen by Reuters. The Coalition for the American Dream intends to ask Congress to pass bipartisan legislation this year that would allow these immigrants, often referred to as "Dreamers," to continue working in the United States, the documents said. Alphabet Inc's Google, Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc, Facebook Inc, Intel Corp, Uber Technologies Inc, IBM Corp, Marriott International Inc and other top U.S. companies are listed as members, one of the documents shows. The push for this legislation comes after President Donald Trump's September decision to allow the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to expire in March. That program, established by former President Barack Obama in 2012, allows approximately 900,000 illegal immigrants to obtain work permits. Some 800 companies signed a letter to Congressional leaders after Trump's decision, calling for legislation protecting Dreamers. That effort was spearheaded by a pro-immigration reform group Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg co-founded in 2013 called FWD.us.

Comments

Illegals are illegal

[Anonymous Coward]

Illegal aliens are illegals, because they have broken the laws

Those who have broken the laws are criminals

We should not allow a group of criminals off the hook, just because they belong to a certain ethnicity

Because if we do that, it would be unfair to people of other ethnicities

Re:Illegals are illegal

[Anonymous Coward]

He's saying that people from south of the US border, which tend to be a specific ethnicity, get to play by a completely different set of rules than immigrants who come from the eastern, northern, and western borders.

The way the US handles illegal immigration today is very racist because it benefits Latinos while ignoring others, but most don't seem to complain when other leading countries (Germany, France, Japan, Belgium, Spain, Canada, etc..) follow their immigration & deportation laws.

If you call Trump's travel ban a "Muslim ban" because the countries targeted are mostly made up of that demographic, then the way illegal immigration is handled in this country is racist b/c of who it mostly benefits. 87% of the illegal immigrants in the US are latino/hispanic.

Re:Illegals are illegal

[Frank Burly]

People who break criminal laws are criminals. Dreamers, almost by definition, have not broken any criminal laws—which is how they were allowed to become Dreamers to begin with.

Your ethnic argument is telling, but not persuasive. In the first place, these are not criminal proceedings, in the second place, it is not their ethnicity that would allow them to stay, but rather that they came here at a young age, have obeyed the criminal laws of this country, and are not high school drop outs.

These people are culturally American, and there is nothing unfair to Americans in letting them stay.

Yes they are.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's where I get into arguments with my Berkeley, CA family members.

To work in companies, the illegals use other people's Social Security numbers, they will then files taxes to get their refunds, Child Tax credit, Earned Income Credit, Additional Child Tax Credit, and education credits, and what have you.

The poor bastard whose Social Security they used gets a letter stating that "they have already filed taxes" and we get that mess.

But wait! There's more!

See, since the illegal alien is running around with that person's SSN - even if they DON'T get credit - there are many other businesses that use it for background checks, governments who use it, and so forth.

So, when the American goes for a mortgage or student loan or whatever, their identity is flagged. Uh, you're here in Virginia but there's all this activity in California. This doesn't look right. DECLINED.

And it's up to the American to sort it out - including all the costs.

Solution? Immigration reform.

Re:Yes they are.

[Chas]

Immigration reform is NOT "open borders".
That's uncontrolled immigration. And that's what's being fought right now.

People point to 100+ years ago. Forgetting that "free country" also meant you were FREE TO STARVE.
Nowadays, there's a massive, EXPENSIVE social infrastructure. And that infrastructure simply CANNOT withstand uncontrolled immigration.

The US does NOT owe the rest of the world a living, or even a better lifestyle.

If people want to immigrate here, DO IT THE RIGHT WAY OR STAY HOME!

Re:Yes they are.

[ChatHuant]

Very, very difficult in the US. The process takes years, and acceptance is unlikely even then. That's why there are illegal immigrants.

I don't think that is relevant or should be brought in this discussion. It just confuses the issue.

If the law doesn't allow something, or makes it difficult, it's because that's how the people of the land have decided things should be. Of course, some laws may be unreasonable or should be changed (and, FWIW, I do believe immigration law is really in need of an overhaul), but that's another discussion - there are mechanisms in place to change laws people don't like. They may be slow, but that's also intentional - and a good thing, IMO.
 
In the meantime, the law is what it is, and whether it's inconvenient, or whether somebody really really doesn't want/doesn't feel like following the law doesn't make breaking the law acceptable. Yes, illegal immigrants really really want to stay in the USA. Yes, getting a visa legally is difficult, and probably many of them wouldn't qualify anyway. Neither of those things should matter; and I think somebody who has already demonstrated disregard for American law shouldn't get an easy path to citizenship.

Many people advocate breaking laws, with the best of intentions. For example, all the cities declaring themselves sanctuaries; that's driven by an admirable sentiment, but is in my opinion deeply flawed. Even though we all have seen exceptions, and complain about this daily, respect of laws in America is still much more prevalent than in places like Mexico. People who just go and break laws they consider unacceptable, or obsolete, or even unjust, instead of working to change those laws via existing constitutional mechanisms undermine this respect; that, I believe, creates a very dangerous precedent.

We want your dreams to come true...

[zifn4b]

Translation: We want labor savings and couldn't care less about your dreams

A Distraction from H1-B

[PeteJanda]

My cynicism meter went to 11 when I saw a headline about large tech companies banding together ostensibly for the benefit of illeg... errr, "Dreamers".

My first reaction was, "How do they benefit financially with the status quo?" But then I realized this question is of secondary significance. The primary question is, "How does this help distract from the importing of illegal labor via H1-B's?" And then pieces fell into place.

Re:Gosh, the cockroaches really are out in full fo

[Anonymous Coward]

You call people scum just because they want to uphold the law?

>> some day, good, decent, caring human beings will have had enough of you...where cockroaches like you belong

Newsflash: Good, decent caring human beings neither condone breaking the law or personally insult others just for their opinions.

Your attitude of encouraging people to become illegals, to repeatedly and systematically break the law as a lifestyle, then expect to be rewarded for it is wrong and bad for society on multiple levels, as is your whole "self-appointed moral highground" tactic.

Supply and demand

[Anonymous Coward]

Off the top of my head tech companies have supported H1B's, illegal immigrants, mass migration, code camps, public education training and significant efforts to inspire girls to become women who code for decades.

These efforts have nothing to do with altruism, in fact they are driven entirely by self centered greed. The more they can increase the labor supply the lower the cost for their primary expense - labor. These companies should start being called out for their charades and their greedy ways exposed for what they are.

Wages in tech have been stagnant or declining for many years due to these efforts. It's time to tie H1B visas to sustained wage increases. If there truly is a shortage of workers than wages will rise accordingly. Keep it simple, in order for an H1B visa to be issued for a job in a region, that region must show an increase in wages of at least 10% over the course of a year.

Posted anonymously so I don't get blacklisted in the industry

USA has an employer problem not immigration

[FeelGood314]

90% of the illegals crossing into the USA are doing so because it is so easy to get a job in the USA. In the Bay area, every morning at 4am you will see school buses (likely the same ones that take your kids to school 2 hours later), busing in workers to do yard work, cleaning and other manual labor. They aren't getting paid minimum wage, they all seem to look a bit Latino and aren't speaking English. hmm. The USA's laws about illegal migrants are not about keeping them out, it is about keeping their wages down and making sure they don't use any government services. If the USA wanted to end 90% of the illegal migrants they could just grant the migrants the right to a $30/hr wage and then enforce it by going after the employers. It would solve the illegal migrant problem over night. It would be total chaos for months as businesses that relied on $2/hr wages collapsed but most of those companies are total leaches anyway (I'm talking about the high water usage farming in the California in particular).