U.S. Senate Control, and Immigration Policy, Hinge on NC Race

How important is the re-election of Senator Thom Tillis to America? You need to read our own Laura Gutman's op-ed below. She is on the National Board of Numbers USA and a renowned doctor from Duke.  -Waddy, OC GOP Chair

Oct. 16, 2020
The Fayetteville Observer

GUEST | Opinion
U.S. Senate control, and immigration policy, hinge on NC race
by Laura Gutman

The Senate race between Republican Thom Tillis and Democrat Cal Cunningham is one of the most competitive in the nation. And the outcome may determine the future of U.S. immigration policy.

The two parties couldn't be farther apart on this crucial issue. Earlier this year, President Trump suspended most work visas to ensure that American citizens would get first dibs at scarce jobs. The GOP widely backed that suspension during a time of record-setting unemployment.

Joe Biden, by contrast, has vowed to lift that suspension — and thus import over 500,000 guest workers during the worst economic crisis in generations. He also favors maintaining “Optional Practical Training,” a cheap labor program that allows foreign nationals who attend U.S. universities to stay and work here after graduation. And he wants to expand the number of employment-based green cards, which would make it easier for companies to hire overseas workers instead of Americans.

North Carolinians can block this influx of foreign labor by reelecting Tillis and ensuring a Republican majority in the Senate.

Before the pandemic, the OPT program drew more than 220,000 participants, many from China or India, where prevailing wages are far lower than in the United States. Yet OPT does not require businesses to pay a competitive wage. Businesses don't even have to pay Social Security or Medicare taxes on many OPT participants.

Several prominent Republicans have called for the suspension of the OPT program altogether. “There is certainly no reason to allow foreign students to stay for three additional years just to take jobs that would otherwise go to unemployed Americans as our economy recovers,” they noted in a recent letter.

Republicans have also pushed back against abuse of H-1B visas, which allow U.S. companies to replace American employees with cheaper foreigners. Retailer Lands’ End recently announced it would outsource IT jobs to Tata Consultancy Services, an Indian firm and major H-1B user.

And earlier this year, Vanguard Group, an investment management firm, transferred 1,300 employees to Infosys, another heavy user of H-1B visas. The former Vanguard employees will get paid their same salaries and benefits for a year — after which, experts say, they'll likely be replaced by cheaper foreign workers.

Offloading tech and IT jobs to H-1B dependent firms is so prevalent that India's former minister of commerce described H-1B as “the outsourcing visa.”

Yet instead of scaling back the program, Joe Biden plans to expand it. He also pledges to eliminate “the limits on employment-based visas by country,” which would help solve the "unacceptably long backlogs" for visa applicants.

North Carolina's unemployment rate currently stands at 6.5 percent — with over 300,000 people out of work. Pre-pandemic, unemployment was only 3.6 percent. Many college graduates are underemployed, working at jobs outside their fields.

It's frankly disgraceful that one of America’s two major parties is more concerned about visa backlogs than vulnerable North Carolinians. Democrats’ immigration proposals are simply out of touch with economic reality. Voters can defeat those proposals — and protect their own jobs — by sending Thom Tillis back to Washington for a second term.

Laura Gutman is a native North Carolinian and pediatrician.