The DOJ is filing a suit against Facebook for discriminating against American workers. The DOJ said in a release,
The lawsuit alleges that Facebook refused to recruit, consider, or hire qualified and available U.S. workers for over 2,600 positions that Facebook, instead, reserved for temporary visa holders it sponsored for permanent work authorization (or “green cards”) in connection with the permanent labor certification process (PERM). The positions that were the subject of Facebook’s alleged discrimination against U.S. workers offered an average salary of approximately $156,000. According to the lawsuit, and based on the department’s nearly two-year investigation, Facebook intentionally created a hiring system in which it denied qualified U.S. workers a fair opportunity to learn about and apply for jobs that Facebook instead sought to channel to temporary visa holders Facebook wanted to sponsor for green cards.
…Our message to workers is clear: if companies deny employment opportunities by illegally preferring temporary visa holders, the Department of Justice will hold them accountable. Our message to all employers — including those in the technology sector — is clear: you cannot illegally prefer to recruit, consider or hire temporary visa holders over U.S. workers.
Why would Facebook do that? The same reason so many other companies do it. A foreigner with a green card will work for less than an American will. So, the company claims they can’t get Americans to fill the job, gets permission to bring in green card holders and make more profit. Meanwhile, American citizens that could be filling those jobs remain unemployed. Some people, mostly those profiting from it in some way, are just fine with this arrangement.
However, the way these green cards are used creates problems similar to those we see with illegal immigration. First and foremost, this keeps Americans from getting jobs so they can support their families. It also drives down the wages of people in the industry. In India, the average monthly wage is equivalent to $437. Do you think an American living in Silicon Valley can compete with someone coming out of that situation on salary? In that sense, it’s not all that different from people competing with illegal aliens for jobs at meatpacking plants or working for farmers. These businesses claim they have no other choice than to hire illegals and so, they have to do it. Of course, this is a lie. It’s just cheaper to hire illegal immigrants. Illegals come from poor countries so they can make much more money here than at home, they don’t need health insurance or car insurance and most of them are lying on their taxes if they’re paying them at all. That means they can easily afford to work for a lot less than an American worker.
It’s good that the Department of Justice is going after Facebook for doing this. Prosecuting companies that do this and hitting them with penalties big enough to make them pay attention is one of the best things we can do for American workers.
John Hawkins is the author of 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know. You can find him on Parler here, Twitter here, and his Facebook page is here.
