8/12/2019 Sen. Durbin Letter to Tech Companies

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RICHARD J. DURBIN

ILLINOIS

ASSISTANT MAJORITY LEADER

Lawrence J. EllisonCEOOracle Corporation500 Oracle Pkwy.Redwood City, CA 94065

Dear Mr. Ellison:

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April1 2014

COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATION

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

COMMITTEE ON RULESAND ADMINISTRATION

I write to ask you to renew your commitment to passing comprehensiveimmigration reform legislation and to pledge that you will not support stand-alonelegislation to increase the H-1B visa cap.

Today is the first day for filing H-1B petitions that are subject to the Fiscal Year2015 cap. As in past years, the high-tech industry has used this opportunity to expressthe view that the H 1 B cap should be increased so that employers can hire moretemporary nonimmigrant workers. It is important to note that technology companies arenot the only ones who are being hurt by our broken immigration system. Americanworkers continue to suffer with immigration laws that allow unscrupulous employers togame the system and import cheap foreign labor. And millions ofundocumentedimmigrants who contribute to our economy by working difficult jobs continue to live inthe shadows.

Unlike in past years, there is a viable legislative vehicle for addressing thetechnology industry's concerns- S.744, the Senate-passed comprehensive immigrationreform legislation. This legislation would significantly increase the number ofH-1Bvisas and allow employers to sponsor for a green card any student who graduates from aU.S. school with an advanced degree in a STEM (science, technology, education, andmathematics) field if they will be working in a STEM job.Additionally, S. 744 includes important reforms to protect American workers.For the first time, all employers would be required to recruit American workers beforehiring a guest worker. Our legislation also cracks down on the biggest abuse of the H-1B

visa- its use for outsourcing American jobs. In Fiscal Year 2012, all of the top 10 H-1Bvisa applicants were outsourcing firms, and these 10 companies used 40% of all H 1 BVISaS.

As a member of the Gang of 8 that authored S. 744, I agreed to an increase inthe H 1 B cap as part of comprehensive immigration reform. The rest of S. 744 wouldaddress the other facets of our broken immigration system. It would strengthen border

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8/12/2019 Sen. Durbin Letter to Tech Companies

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security by deploying better technology and focusing on the most serious security threats;require employers to verify that all employees are legal, and penalize any employer thatcontinues to employ undocumented immigrants; reform our legal immigration system tostrengthen our economy and our families and protect American workers; and create atough but fair path to citizenship that requires undocumented immigrants to register withthe government, pass a background check, pay a fine and taxes, learn English, go to theback of line behind legal immigrants, and work towards citizenship over time.

The path forward for immigration reform is clear. If the Republican leadership ofthe House of Representatives brings S 744 to the floor, the Speaker knows that it willpass by a strong bipartisan majority and the President will sign it into law.Last year, a diverse coalition representing a wide variety of constituencies-business, labor, faith, law-enforcement, and immigrants joined together to help pass S744 in the Senate. This coalition needs to stick together and intensify its efforts to pass S7 44 in the House.It was my understanding that high tech was committed to supporting S.744because the industry's top priorities are addressed in our legislation. I am troubled byrecent statements suggesting that some in the technology industry may shift their focus topassage of stand-alone legislation that would only resolve the industry's concerns. Forexample, last week the executive director of Compete America, a coalition of technologycompanies, authored a column that focused entirely on H lB visas and called for passage

of the SKILLS Act, legislation that would greatly increase the number ofH lBs withoutmany ofthe important H lB reforms included in S.744.This divide and conquer approach destroys the delicate political balanceachieved in our bipartisan bill and calls into question the good faith of those who wouldsacrifice millions of lives for H lB relief.I hope that you will join me in renewing the push for comprehensive immigrationreform. Will you commit to working to pass comprehensive immigration reformlegislation and not supporting stand-alone legislation that increases the H IB visa cap?Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to your promptresponse.

Sincerely,

~ ~ l Aichard J Durbin