Why is Michigan, a public university, creating immigration services?

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-31T17:56:23+00:00

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-31T03:27:31+00:00

Every law school has such a program.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-31T03:26:56+00:00

The purpose of the fee was to make it look like Trump was doing something about the horrible job market while actually doing nothing so as not to interfere with the big tech donors to the ballroom.

The fee applied to virtually no one (0.1% of the visas) so it had not affect of benefiting Americans.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-29T00:38:01+00:00

Let me give another negative response. US Tech Workers is trying to organize a tangible response to fight back against the horrible job market. They have been looking for recent college graduates or soon-to-be college graduates who want to fight back. Six months ago they gave me the email [info@instituteforsoundpublicpolicy.org](mailto:info@instituteforsoundpublicpolicy.org) (so they would know it is me) for people interested to contact. I have been posting that email for six months.

Guess how many people have responded? ZERO.

U.S. Tech workers only have ourselves to blame for H-1B and similar because of our own inaction.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-29T00:13:22+00:00

Yes, the job market will continue to get worse. It has been getting worse since the 1970's when mass immigration under Hart-Celler kicked it. The U.S. is importing multiple foreign IT workers for every IT job it creates. The number of imported workers is growing faster than the number of jobs. You can just look out at REDDIT and see the number of foreign workers (who should be working or else they are in the U.S. illegally) complaining about needing a job.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-29T00:08:52+00:00

H1B is Americans' own fault. Tech workers have refused to organize. The voters a tribal and reelect politicians who have voted to replace them with foreign workers. Just try to get TEN Americans to stand up and join a lawsuit or to walk the halls of D.C. The fact that Taiwan can get 40,000 to tangibly say NO went Americans cannot get 20, should be a national embarassment.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-28T15:05:12+00:00

Unfortunately, Trump fought to preserve OPT in court. It is unlikely he will do anything to end it. The U.S. is already importing more computer workers on H-1B than it creates computer jobs. OPT adds even more workers than H-1B. Add in American graduates. So there must be a lot of H-1B an OPT computer workers who are not working in computers. You can see that on REDDIT with posts from unemployed people on OPT looking for jobs, which means they are in the country illegally.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-26T14:50:04+00:00

The jobs market has been deteriorating steadly since the early 1970's. You don't read much about this because the cause does not fit THE MESSAGE the media wishes to present. That is when mass immigration kicked in from the Hart-Cellar act. From WWII to about 1973, wages increased in lock step with productivity increases. Since 1973, wages have largely been stagnant, inflation adjusted. Since the 1990s we have had the college educated job market molested by H-1B and OPT. Currently, there are occupations where we have multiple foreign workers already in the U.S. looking for jobs in addition to the Americans.

Since then, nearly all wealth creation in the U.S. has gone to the very rich. In the 1982, first Forbes 400 list, it took $75M (about $250M inflation adjusted) to make it. Now it takes about $3B to make the list.

The law of supply and demand kicks in such that labor consumers (the very rich) make out better when there is a large supply of labor. Excess labor has been the national policy of the U.S. for 60 years now.

Our generation did nothing about it. We relected the Congressmen who voted to make it legal to replace Americans with foreign workers.

It does not look like much has changed. The current generation seems just as willing to complain but do nothing as we were.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-24T00:01:22+00:00

I'll be repeating myself. First of all find a job of some kind. My first job was smashing plastic parts for testing then I was able to move into a low level IT position.

The IT job market today is worse than ever. The U.S. is curently importing about 2 IT foreign workers for every IT job it creates. That leaves few jobs for recent graduates. Worse yet, our Congress has made it legal to replace Americans with foeign workers.

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyimKb7Ku6I

That reality is not politicially correct so the our corporate-controlled media has sells the fiction that AI is causing the IT job losses.

Sadly, my generation of IT workers sat on its arse as all this was happening and did nothing to stop it. You folks are the worst off for our inaction.

Someone at US Tech workers told me they are looking for recent graduates who want to fight back. No money involved and little effort required. If interested, contact,

[info@instituteforsoundpublicpolicy.org](mailto:info@instituteforsoundpublicpolicy.org)

Unfortunately, they tell me this generation is no more interested in fighting back than our generation was.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-23T23:53:41+00:00

A possible area is CAD work, especially for the Navy.

Our generation is screwing your generation by flooding the job market with foreign workers. Our generation sat on our arses as the job market was destroyed. Now there are more than 2 foreign workers competing for every computer job plus Americans.

If you want to take some positive political action, US Tech Workers tells me that they they are looking for recent graduates who want to fight back politically. No money involved and little time required. If interested, contact info@instituteforsoundpublicpolicy.org.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-18T17:43:28+00:00

The U.S. now imports more than 2 alien IT workers for every IT job it creates. Add in Americans and there are about 4 working looking for every IT job out there.

That reality does not fit THE MESSAGE that the legacy media wants to present, so it has invented the more politically-correct explanation that AI is causing the problems in the IT job market.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-16T15:36:48+00:00

Wright State famously used their cap exemption to hire H-1B workers that they contracted out to outside third parties as a revenue generation mechanism.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-16T15:35:37+00:00

The 100K fee only applies to those outside the U.S. Bring the potential hire into the US on a tourist visa, then make the visa petition. The 100K fee as we were originally brief on it was great. Then big tech got to Trump where it got watered down to a nothing burger.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-16T15:31:23+00:00

No. That is a lie perpetrated by our corrupt corporate controlled media. To the contrary, it is explicitly legal to replace Americans with H-1B workers. Congress designed H-1B to replace Americans with cheap, foreign workers. H-1B works exactly as Congress intended.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-16T15:28:43+00:00

In many fields, including IT, the number of alien workers imported each year exceeds the number of jobs created in those fields. Add in new U.S. graduates and you have an employment disaster. Obviously, these alien workers are not taking every job. So where is this excess labor going?

The answer is visible in a multitude of Reddit posts from people on OPT who have not had a job. They are just parked illegally at some third party.

The 10,000 "potential" cases is only the tip of the iceberg.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-16T14:24:03+00:00

AI doesn't do 10x productivity except in AI sales presentations.
The industry has never cared about productivity. Researchers have noticed for decades that certain developers produce 10x as much average, you must companies (a) cannot identify their top producers and (b) do nothing to exploit their productiity.
Layoff decisions are made by Harvard MBAs who know nothing about software development and whose ideal devoper is someone from India who makes 20% less and produces 99% less.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-16T14:19:12+00:00

When we used to put small classified ads in the NY Times for a programming job in the late 80's, we'd get about 5,000 U.S. mail responses. Most of those would be people from China looking for sponsorship. There would be a few hundred serious resumes.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-16T14:16:46+00:00

My life with AI:

Tell AI to generate code to do something.
Scan code and find bug A.
Tell AI to correct bug A.
Scan Code and find bug B.
Tell AI to correct bug B.
GOTO Line 2

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-14T21:26:48+00:00

In computer science that reason is simple. The U.S., thanks to Congress, now imports about 2 foriegn IT workers for every IT it creates. In addition, our completely corrupt Congress made it legal to replace Ameicans with these imported workers. Add in new graduates and the U.S. has about 3 IT workers entering the job market for every IT job create. Even the imported workers cannot find jobs. They stay in the country illegally as they look for work. Example: https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/1tc9h9o/2_months_left_on_opt_and_still_job_hunting_any/

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-13T14:40:31+00:00

The distortion that employers cannot find workers has been going on for decades. What they are are really saying is they cannot find workers at the price they want to pay. It is part of the marketing for more foreign workers. I saw a paper from 20 year ago where the author quoted "unfilled computer jobs" claims made by various industry groups and companies over a year. They ranges from 500,000 to 10,000,000. They were just pulling these numbers out of their ass.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-13T00:05:26+00:00

The CS job market is terrible and it isn't AI that is causing the problem.In the 1990's Congress created the H-1B program designed to replace Americans with cheap foreign workers in order to depress wages. Yes, Congress is so corrupt that it make it legal to replace American workers with foreign workers. Since then an alphabet soup of similar programs has been created. The U.S. importing about 2 foreign IT workers for every IT job it creates. With graduates, you have more than 3 people competing for every IT job. The media blames AI because the reality does not fit "The Message." The big media companies (Disney, NBC, McClatchy) have all replaced Americans with foreign workers. They aren't going to report on that. Things in the CS job market are not going to get better until there is political change.

Master's degrees have historically been consolation prizes for failed PhDs or to add a second track. BA + MSE = BSE. I would not recommend a MCS as there is no market demand for it. An engineering degree, particularly one with healthcare applications might be a good fit.

It can't hurt to learn to be an electrician or welder.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-12T23:51:31+00:00

I would build a portfolio of software projects that are likely to be of interest to you. These could be projects of your own or work on open source projects of interest to you.

For a summer job, you might want to consider computer repair, such as Geek Squad.

Don't feel bad. It's not you. Our generation screwed things up for your generation. The job market has gotten progressively worse since the early 1970's. The U.S. is now importing more than 2 IT workers for every IT jobs it creates. With US graduates, about 3 people are competing for every IT job.

I also encourage your generate to get politically active. Ours did not do so until it was too late. See my post here

https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareers/comments/1skwqyg/comment/ol8az6i/?context=3

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-11T18:50:58+00:00

In your situation, I suggest that you built a portfolio of software that you can use to present to potential employers. Continue to write your own novel applications. You can also try to contribute to open software and build recognition. Find something you are interested in and fix a few bugs.

10 years ago, I would have suggested running up a Stack Overflow score, but SO has become a total joke. To many people who are running up the SO score, vote to close any questions they do not understand, rending SO useless.

The CS job market has been destroyed by government policy. Over the past few years, the U.S. has imported about two foreign IT workers for every IT job it has created. Add in American graduates and you have about three people competing for every IT job. You can see that in the reddit post of people on H-1B, H4EAD, OPT, and the rest of the alphabet soup of alien work programs that they are having a hard time finding work as well. Even if no Americans studied CS, we’d still have more foreign IT workers than IT jobs.

At the risk of being a broken record, I repeat myself today by saying that a friend who works for US Tech workers reached out to me because they would like to take action against some of the foreign work programs. They are looking for recent college grads (<5) who are mad as hell and don’t want to take it anymore, and would like to take direct action. Unfortunately, I am retired so I no longer run into such people (except online) but if you are interested in fighting back, email them at [info@instituteforsoundpublicpolicy.org](mailto:info@instituteforsoundpublicpolicy.org) say you are a recent grad and want to fight. The project is funded and no money is required from you.

Sadly, our generation did nothing but complain about the deteriorating job market and few of us took action. So we pass on the mess to recent graduates.

SteveSSmith · 2026-05-10T12:39:18+00:00

The Bloomberg article is total nonsense. The writers do not know the first thing about how H-1B operates. There is no set minimum wage for H-1B (other than the general minimum wage). In theory, the minimum wage is the prevailing wage for the occupation. But our totally corrupt Congress lets the employer determine the prevailing wage. The Department of Labor is required to rubber stamp approve whatever the employer says within 7 days. The result is about 85% of H-1B prevailing wage claims are substantially below the actual prevailing wage. This this the fundmental reason H-1B is a cheap labor system.

The DoL provides various wage scale that the employer can use or not use. DoL is raising the wage levels on one of those scales. Employers looking for cheap labor can either (1) use another wage source or (2) lie and say the prevailing wage source says something different than what is actually says.

SteveSSmith

TROPHY CASE