Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 14:10:47 -0700 From: Norm Matloff To: Norm Matloff Subject: startling announcement in ILW To: H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter I know that a number of readers of this e-newsletter, especially those who are academics, journalists, in government or immigration lawyers, also read Immigration Daily (www.ilw.com), an e-newsletter. You may have been puzzled by the following announcement which appeared in the August 29 edition, which was distributed this afternoon: * 1. COMMENT * * Erratum * * Immigration Daily ran a letter to the Editor on August 23, 2005 * characterizing Mr. Norm Matloff in a manner contrary to our usual * editorial standards for the Letters to the Editor section. This * was a result of oversight, not intent, on our part, and is the * kind of error that we have occasionally made in the past because * of our tight deadlines and small staff. Immigration Daily * encourages debate and varying viewpoints; however, we have never * allowed and do not allow for name calling. The letters to the * Editor section is a section for discussing viewpoints, not * personalities. Immigration Daily apologizes to Mr. Matloff for * our error in oversight, and the characterization * http://www.ilw.com/immigdaily/digest/2005,0823.shtm#Letters-to-Editor * has been modified. I think an explanation is called for. The above "erratum" arose from a letter to editor which I sent them, and which they promised to publish, but did not publish in the end. Here it is: * Editor: * * I was rather taken aback by the August 23 letter you ran by Bruce Hake, * in which he referred to me as a "ferocious anti-H-1B xenophobe." This * was odd, to say the least, as Mr. Hake sent me e-mail on March 21, 2000 * in which he said, "I'm an immigration lawyer in Maryland...I'm in * agreement with most of your anti-H-1B diatribes...Your position, in my * judgment, is essentially accurate..." He also said, "The [H-1B] program * has been almost completely destroyed in the last few years by largely * India-based `body shops' that act like modern-day slave traders," a * statement that I find offensive and unjustifiably focused on Indians, * but which again shows that he agreed with my position that the H-1B * program is widely abused. Granted, Mr. Hake is allowed to change his * mind over the course of five years, but I must say his letter has my * head spinning. * * Even more bizarre is Mr. Hake's use of the word "xenophobe." I wish to * point out that in a second message Mr. Hake sent me that same day, he * praised me for my active defense of Dr. Wen Ho Lee, the Chinese * immigrant engineer who the federal government unfairly accused of spying * for China. Sounds like Mr. Hake didn't think I was a xenophobe after * all. * * What gives, Mr. Hake? * * Norm Matloff * Professor of Computer Science * University of California, Davis When my letter did not appear in ILW the next day, I asked the editor, who said that it had been "delayed." However, yesterday she told me that they actually would NOT be running it. But she did apologize for running that portion of Mr. Hake's letter, and offered to make amends. I suggested amends in the form of their contacting Mr. Hake to verify that he did send me the e-mail in question, and then their announcing in ILW that Mr. Hake had sent me e-mail saying that he agreed with much of my H-1B opinion and that he had praised me for actively defending the foreign-born, heavily-accented Dr. Lee. ILW refused to do that, and even went so far as to say that their error was not actionable, on the bizarre grounds that the word "xenophobe" is not pejorative! But ILW offered to make the announcement now shown at the top of this e-mail message, which I felt was fine. Anyway, now you know "the rest of the story" behind today's odd announcement in ILW. By the way, let me note again that ILW has stated several times that H-1B cases form the bulk of the practices of most immigration attorneys. Thus ILW has a very sharply pro-H-1B point of view, though they have definitely run articles from time to time from those who are critical of the program. Norm