Another Sob Story

Date: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 11:34 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1642 -- 2/14/2007 >>>>>

I wasn't going to use this propaganda piece until it occurred to me how
eerily similar the sniveling was to the Vivek Wadhwa op-ed on Businessweek.
Both stories are about East Europeans that have PhD degrees who are being
forced to leave the United States because they have overstayed their
welcome. Another common theme that permeates these articles is the
assumption that the United States will be far worse off if we allow
educated people to leave instead of giving them green cards so that they
can stay in the U.S. forever.

Keep in mind that Dr. Krueger was last employed as a post doc on an H-1B
visa. These jobs, as he notes, don't pay well but that's in large part to
the fact that foreigners like him are willing to take these jobs for
peanuts -- and just as importantly universities prefer their cheap labor to
American academics.

It's worth noting that he took a job that only requires a BS degree because
this type of job title switching is one of the methods employers use for
getting around prevailing salary requirements. Krueger knew the game the
university was playing but took the job anyway.

Krueger and his wife had a daughter while they were doing "research" at one
of our universities, I apologize for the cheap shot but just couldn't
resist a parting blow for Valentine's day!. He whines that he is being
forced to leave his daughter in the U.S. but never explains why he can't
take her back to Germany. Perhaps she would lose her anchor baby status if
she was repatriated to Germany. His plea for universal anchor baby rights
should be serious cause for alarm -- especially since it's the globalists
at the UN who are pushing it.

Krueger wrote the following: "Ratify the UN Convention for the Rights of
the Child, as it demands that children shall not be separated from either
parent." Instead of kowtowing to UN mandates we need to insist that
Congress needs to pass the "Citizenship Reform Act of 2007" (H.R. 133) to
eliminate the baby anchor loophole.

Krueger's tragic story and his observations about the exploitive nature of
the H-1B visa are not good arguments for increased immigration. I have
heard equally tragic stories from American PhDs that have had their lives
torn apart because they lost out in the job market to H-1B and green card
visa holders.

Let's save our sympathies for our own "best and brightest" and wish Krueger
a "Gute Reise" back to Germany!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html

Give H1-B Visa Holders a Life

New America Media, Commentary, Dirk Krueger, Posted: Feb 12, 2007

Editors Note: A German scientist lost more than his visa when his job
ran out; he lost his family as well. Dr. Dirk Krueger, who was last with
the Department of Soil Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a
member of Immigration Voice. IMMIGRATION MATTERS regularly features the
views of the nation's leading immigrant rights groups and advocates.

MADISON, Wisc. -- I am a new dad who has lost much in divorce. It is still
hard to talk about, but this March I will move back to my home country,
Germany, after nine years in America, with far less than what I came with.
My daughter and my dreams are staying behind.

Born and raised in Communist East Germany, I came to the United States in
1998 to pursue a Ph.D. I came to respect this country and made new friends.
I held an open mind about whether to stay or return to Germany after
receiving my doctorate degree. Midway through graduate school, I met
another German citizen and fellow scientist in the U.S., fell in love with
her, and we were later married.

My partner moved first to the new town where I had been promised a post-doc
position. Her own prior post-doc job had given her a very good position in
a promising biotech company. We both felt at home in this town. My wife
wanted a good life after having worked so hard for her own Ph.D., and we
bought a house. Her company arranged her Green Card process to be
initiated.

On the other hand, my job situation left much to be desired as I moved from
post-doc, to post-doc. This succession of postdoctoral jobs offered no
employment security or even a trail of scientific success, but I hoped
things would improve. The post-9/11 reality and wars, however, meant
funding for basic science was hard to come by for any faculty member,
including my supervisors.

My post-doc salary did not contribute much to the family income, compared
to my wifes financial contributions. Frictions arose; while I spent 10
to 14 hours a day on weekdays in the lab, working hard and hoping for one
of my professors to finally get that one grant.

My wife then got pregnant. We both were happy about that, but my present
post-doc position was not extended. I began another frantic round of
writing applications, just so I could stay in the United States for the
birth of our baby. I occasionally received interviews with biotech
companies, but they deemed me overqualified. Why would they apply for a
visa for me when any B.Sc. can hold a pipette?

At the last minute, literally, I was able to stay because I managed to
receive another postdoctoral position, and a new H-1B visa application was
sent off. But my marriage had deteriorated so much that my wife and I got
divorced shortly thereafter. With the divorce I lost my home and my life as
I had imagined it to be. Meanwhile, I had not seen my home country in five
years. The complications and long waits for arranging visa interviews in
the post 9/11 world made visits untenable, while employment guaranteed
wages for only a few months at a time.

Now my current post-doc employment has run out, and with it, my ability to
stay on in the United States. All I want now is just one thing, and that
is, to provide for my daughter and help raise her. She was born an American
citizen, with great hopes and tremendous love, to a worried and
increasingly depressed father. However, I cannot stay on in the U.S. as an
illegal alien, and my daughter will grow up without her biological father.

Besides undeniable bad luck and personality flaws that I may have, a large
part of my family problems have arisen because of current laws on H-1B
workers. We are skilled, foreign workers who add tremendous value to the
American economy, yet we are given little rights. The unfortunate part of
this whole story is that I am not alone in my troubles; many other skilled
workers endure similar obstacles, as attested by many members of the
Immigration Voice organization.

Based on my personal experience, I can say it is time for immigration
reform. Let U.S.-trained, skilled people like me work unhindered. If there
are delays in a research grant, allow us to work elsewhere. Let us apply
for our own grants. If we have done nothing wrong, have a family to support
and have lived here for years, then let us stay here legally and continue
contributing to the American economy.

Balance unskilled illegal immigration with skilled legal immigration. I do
not want my daughter to sponsor my Green Card for me 20 or 30 years down
the road when I am old and frail and unproductive. Instead, she needs me
now to help raise her. Value the rights of innocent children to have both
parents. Ratify the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child, as it
demands that children shall not be separated from either parent.

But I suppose the U.S. is at a stage in its economic trajectory where cheap
unskilled labor is all that is needed, rather than foreign-born, skilled
workers who have historically made the U.S. a scientific superpower. In a
perhaps very German way, I did everything by the book. I never deviated
from American immigration laws. Now I am leaving. But how can I be happy
ever again, leaving my child and my dreams behind?

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