Norm Matloff writes:

Recall that the Dept. of Labor recently announced an audit of the Fragomen law firm, the largest in the U.S., alleging that Fragomen's attorneys got improperly involved in clients' hiring, supposedly trying to talk the clients out of hiring qualified American applicants. My take on it was the while Fragomen was probably within the law, the case illustrates how use of loopholes to avoid hiring Americans in favor of foreign workers being sponsored for green cards is standard operating procedure, including for America's biggest firms and most prominent immigration attorneys. See my previous postings on this here and here.

As mentioned in these posts, the Lou Dobbs show, [below]as well as an earlier San Francisco TV news report, featured David Huber, who believes that he observed Fragomen's misdeeds in action, with himself as victim. Fragomen's PR firm now is going after Huber, as seen in the enclosure below.[ Fragomen Statement And Letter From Ad AgencyImmigration Daily ]

The Fragomen statement is not much of a denial, even though it's written to sound like one. It consists mainly of denying "accusations" that to my knowledge haven't been made in the first place.

To me, the most interesting passage, though, is Fragomen's characterization of Huber as a "committed opponent of immigration." I know Dave Huber, but I don't recall him expressing any opinions on immigration in general, other than H-1B and employer-sponsored green cards. And of course, the implication is also that anyone who in fact does wish to reduce immigration overall is a Bad Person.

The further hint there is that Huber's opposition to the foreign worker programs stems not from their adverse impact on his ability to make a living, but rather because he is simply xenophobic. The industry lobbyists have long made such statements, which basically claim that people like Huber would be perfectly happy if a white Canadian took away his job, but would be outraged if he lost his job to someone from India. Only someone whose job has never been in jeopardy could believe such an absurd claim.

Happy 4th, everyone.

Norm