Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2008 12:13:52 -0700 From: Norm Matloff To: Norm Matloff Subject: Fragomen attacks Huber To: H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter 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 at http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/Archive/Fragomen.txt http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/Archive/Fragomen2.txt As mentioned in these posts, the Lou Dobbs show on the Fragomen case, 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. 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 http://www.ilw.com/immigdaily/news/2008,0707-fragomen.shtm Immigration Daily Immigrant's Weekly Fragomen Statement And Letter From Ad Agency Letter from Miller Advertising Agency FRAGOMEN STATEMENT CONCERNING DAVID HUBER'S ALLEGATIONS David Huber is a committed opponent of immigration. A year before he ever responded to the advertisement in question, he testified in Congress against permitting foreign workers in the U.S. These are the accurate facts concerning the ad he has publicly described having responded to: -- The ad Mr. Huber responded to directed him to send his resume to the employer at the employer's street address. It did not refer to Fragomen or direct resumes to Fragomen. -- The name "M.E. Clarke" -- who is a Fragomen employee -- was used temporarily by the employer's mailroom to identify a mailstop at the employer's request. There was no indication in the ad of any connection between M.E. Clarke and Fragomen. -- M.E. Clarke provided clerical support to the employer's H.R. function, including collecting resumes to ensure that they would be properly and promptly distributed to the appropriate hiring managers for evaluation. -- Neither M.E. Clarke nor any other Fragomen employee reviewed or evaluated the resumes received to assess the applicants' credentials. -- No interview was conducted by any Fragomen employee. -- No hiring decision was made by any Fragomen employee. -- Mr. Huber's resume was evaluated solely by the employer, and the employer determined Mr. Huber was not qualified for the job. __________________________________________________________________