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A citizen of India, Rajendrasinh B. Makwana attempted to sabotage the computer database at Fannie Mae. He was, according to news reports, employed as a so-called temporary foreign worker who had been authorized to work in the United States temporarily under the provisions of the H1B visa that had been issued to him.
Here’s how this appalling situation can be summed up:
This is the real threat to society, not the sinking of Fannie Mae. But the strange case of Makwana does bring up a number of issues. The main one is the use of H1B visa workers – and holders of other alien-worker documentation – in sensitive areas.
Why was Makwana working at Fannie Mae in the first place? Are you telling me no American citizen could have done his job?
This is not a new concern. It has long been believed that in most cases H1B visas in technology have been exploited by companies such as Fannie Mae only because programmers coming from India work cheaper. But there is no way of knowing much about any of these folks, and that immediately becomes a homeland-security issue.
The issue of this Fannie Mae employee actually illuminates an even broader issue that can be summed up with a simple question: “What constitutes critical infrastructure?”
An individual who is intent on attacking our nation would find that the United States offers so many tempting targets, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel.
On May 5, 2005, I was called upon to testify before the House Subcommittee in Immigration, Border Security and Claims at a hearing that was entitled “New ‘Dual Missions’ of the Immigration Enforcement Agencies.“
During the hearing, as I sat next to one of the other witnesses, Richard Stanna of the GAO (General Accounting Office- as that agency was then called), I was more than a bit astounded that Mr. Stana made the point that there was still no mission statement for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). As he made that incredible admission of the incompetence of our government some several years after the worst terrorist attack ever committed on our nation’s soil – which was carried our entirely by foreign nationals who had easily gamed the immigration system – my head felt as though it was going to explode!
Rep. Steve King (the current ranking member of the House Immigration Subcommittee) asked me about the issue of the attrition problem at ICE. Certainly, attrition is a major issue. It has been estimated that it costs well over $100,000 to recruit and train each new special agent, and it takes upwards of five years for a new special agent to truly be “up to speed.” Additionally, the massive attrition crisis at ICE contributes to a loss of “institutional memory” at that agency.
I started to respond to Rep. King’s important question and then, with the words of Richard Stana still reverberating in my head, I asked King if I could please comment on the lack of a mission statement for ICE more than three years after the attacks of 9/11.
I was given permission, and I wound up speaking for far longer than the normal time limit, doing everything I could to make it clear that this was an utterly unacceptable situation.
Here is the transcript of the initial part of my response:
We can’t look at immigration enforcement and say, well, we’re just going to go after illegal aliens, or we’re just going to go after terrorists. Sleepers, which, as you know, Robert Mueller, the head of the FBI, talked to the Senate Intelligence Committee at a hearing back in February, talked about his concerns about sleeper agents. Sleeper agents aren’t people that just simply come into the country and dig a hole in the ground like a cicada and hide there for a year or two waiting for a phone call; they are people that hide in plain sight.
If it’s employment that draws the bulk of the illegal aliens across the border; it’s immigration fraud that enables them to stay here and hide in plain sight. And if we don’t address that issue, and if we are told that there’s still no real mission statement 3 1/2 years into what’s been billed as a war on terror, it gives me cause for pause.
And if you go to the ICE website, the Homeland Security website, what is amazing to me – because I just checked it yesterday, because you would think that the home page of any organization would be where you set forth your number one, number two, number three priority. Well, there wasn’t a single thing on that Website that related back to the enforcement of immigration law other than an I-9 and the fact that they’ve gone to electronic I-9s. Now, if this is supposed to be homeland security, I have yet another reason not to go to sleep this evening.
The one point I did not address at the hearing, but wish I had, was the point that Richard Stana made about how as a component of DHS, ICE had to prioritize the use for its extremely limited resources and needed to focus on “trophy targets” rather than address the normal immigration issues of aliens working in industries such as the food industry.
This the direct quote from Mr. Stana on that point:
Mr. STANA. I would put it this way: I think it is more of a matter of what is the mission of ICE and CBP. Being in DHS, whose mission is to enhance national security and to fight terrorism, they are taking their cues from the broader organization. So when we talk about ICE not doing some things now in the interior enforcement of immigration policies, it’s understandable. The ICE mission is now national security and antiterrorism. So what’s happening is, at ICE and CBP, they are fulfilling that mission by, for example, in work site enforcement, by targeting their efforts to trophy targets, whether they be nuclear power plants, airplane tarmacs and so on. They are not going to the food processing plants like they used to because the mission of DHS is national security and antiterrorism. If we wanted a fundamental shift to bring the mission back to what it was in INS, and that is to enforce immigration law and to provide benefits to eligible aliens, then that would require a fundamental shift of structure. But that is not what the DHS mission is right now. That is number one.
As I asked before, “What constitutes critical infrastructure?”
Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, our flat-footed government has been putting much emphasis on airline safety and screening passengers boarding airliners because we know that the terrorists of 9/11, in effect, turned passenger airliners into de facto cruise missiles with devastating results. Of course the screening process of those passengers is far from perfect, an issue I plan to write about in the near future, but the point is that while our government has paid an awful lot of attention on airliners, they are ignoring other areas of extreme vulnerability.
We often hear about ICE conducting field operations to go after illegal aliens who work on military bases doing construction work. Similarly, we hear about other illegal aliens who are arrested for working on power plants and other venues that have national security implications.
In reality, people who process our food are working in an industry that has major national security implications. Imagine how much damage a terrorist or a group of terrorists could do by poisoning food that is distributed around the United States to thousands, if not millions, of people.
Think about how many people are made ill by eating tainted food. The current problem food, peanut butter, has made headlines all around the United States. Outbreaks of salmonella and E. coli have raised similar concerns about public health.
I am not an expert in biology or chemistry. However, from what I have read, while concerns are often raised about protecting our reservoirs, almost no attention is paid to our food supply.
I am not attempting to criticize Richard Stana. In fact, I have respect for him. He is attempting to do the best job possible. The problem is that our government needs to think “outside the box.”
Another area of vulnerability that is virtually never addressed is the issue of immigration fraud. By not mounting a meaningful effort to weed out fraud in applications for immigration benefits, we hear of those aliens who succeed in becoming United States citizens by committing immigration fraud and then use their United States citizenship to acquire security clearances to either work for sensitive government agencies such as the FBI or CIA to gain access to sensitive databases.
I do not know what motivated Rajendrasinh B. Makwana to attempt to wreak such havoc on Fannie Mae. He may simply have been “wacky,” for lack of a better term, or he may have had a clear purpose in coming to the United States to work at that important government agency.
Hopefully, the investigators who are involved in this case will do a good job of “connecting the dots” and determine who he may have been affiliated with. I hope that these investigators will also seek to uncover if he had accomplices in the United States. This may help them to determine what motivated his actions and neutralize any further such actions if others are involved.
It has been said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” The problem is that there is little done to properly screen aliens who seek to obtain visas to enable these aliens to enter the United States.
The expansion of the Visa Waiver Program creates other vulnerabilities.
Additionally, of course, I reiterate the issue raised by Mr. Dvorak in the MarketWatch.com article linked above, which is one that all Americans must raise:
Why was Makwana working at Fannie Mae in the first place? Are you telling me no American citizen could have done his job?
There have been members of Congress who are demanding that a cap be placed on the salaries of executives of companies that have received massive amounts of taxpayer money to bail out their respective companies. Here is my suggestion:
No company that receives taxpayer bailout money should be able to hire foreign workers unless they can truly prove that there are no Americans who can do those jobs. Furthermore, those companies should be subject to a scrutiny by special agents of ICE to make certain that the employees that they hire are lawfully present in the United States, to make certain that there are no illegal aliens working for them!
If the point to the government economic stimulus program is to get money into the hands of the citizens of our nation and to keep the money circulating throughout our nation’s economy to create a “multiplier effect,” then it is absolutely counterproductive to pay foreign workers whose goal is to send money back to their home countries and out of our nation’s economy. Each and every year, tens of billions of dollars are wired or otherwise sent from the United States to the countries from which foreign workers come. This applies to illegal aliens as well as foreign workers who have temporary work visas.
It is better for the economy of the United States to pay an American worker more than to pay a foreign worker, because a better paid American will spend, save and invest his money right here, inside the United States of America.
When a person is nearsighted and fails to wear his glasses, he may walk into a wall. When our government is nearsighted, our nation may hit the wall with horrific results.
Guest columns do not necessarily reflect the views of Accuracy in Media or its staff.
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About the author
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Michael Cutler is a Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and a recognized authority who regularly appears on radio and television programs, in addition to testifying before Congress, addressing the implications of immigration on national security and criminal justice. Cutler is part of AIM's Speakers Bureau. Send inquiries to speakers@aim.org
17 Comments for H1B Visa Holder Attempted Fannie Mae Sabotage – Where’s the Outrage?
Did you ever raise a voice and concerns over how much your dear and chosen twice, president swindled your hard earned money. It’s not about one wrong immigrant but about hundreds of thousands of such wrong immigrants combined into one fraudster of a president who has finished his term without getting impeached, who has ruined lives of millions and who will enjoy his retirement in regality.
“No company that receives taxpayer bailout money should be able to hire foreign workers unless they can truly prove that there are no Americans who can do those jobs. Furthermore, those companies should be subject to a scrutiny by special agents of ICE to make certain that the employees that they hire are lawfully present in the United States, to make certain that there are no illegal aliens working for them!”
WOW! I never thought I would see a demand for anti-free market, socialist government intervention in an AIM essay.
“It is better for the economy of the United States to pay an American worker more than to pay a foreign worker, because a better paid American will spend, save and invest his money right here, inside the United States of America.”
Would that this were true. But one of the major problems facing the American economy now is that Americans are NOT spending and investing “right here.” And the savings of those who are depositing in Banks are not being used to create a sufficient volume of loans.
But again, note the “right here, inside the United States of America.” Is this a disguised proposal for government regulation of where American citizens would be allowed to invest? Sure sounds like socialism to me. Such investment restrictions are characteristic of a planned economy, as in the old USSR.
Re: the following statement from the article:
“No company that receives taxpayer bailout money should be able to hire foreign workers unless they can truly prove that there are no Americans who can do those jobs. Furthermore, those companies should be subject to a scrutiny by special agents of ICE to make certain that the employees that they hire are lawfully present in the United States, to make certain that there are no illegal aliens working for them!”
I’m FOR it! 100%. Call it “socialism” (although I don’t get the connection); “anti-free-market”; “excessive government intervention” – “immigrantphobia” – whatever you want – and feel free to use those same appelations against me as personal pejoratives if you want – but it’s time to STOP RECRUITING FOREIGNERS OR OUTSOURCING when 10% of the American workforce is unemployed!
Does anyone doubt that foreign workers are being recruited simply because they’re willing to accept relatively lower pay than would have to be given to similarly-qualified Americans? (In recent years, U.S. college graduates have been having an increasingly difficult time finding jobs – and many don’t have a suitable job even a year after graduation.)
I also FULLY support the “Buy American” movement currently developing in relation to economic stimulus plan discussions underway in the Senate.
And, I believe if the government is going to expend tax monies specifically to create jobs (ANY kinds of jobs) – that the government should also MANDATE the use of E-Verify NATIONWIDE (for ALL employers) to insure that, first, only American citizens get the new jobs and, second, if (demonstrably) there are no citizens applying for remaining available jobs, only LEGAL immigrants would be considered.
Damn the torpedos! America and Americans First!
Someone mentioned it is important to raise the H1b quota.In my personal opinion,it doesn’t make sense to raise quota. It is very important to *REFORM* the H1b system so that folks on H1b visa don’t have to leave the country when they’re laid off .It is also important to make them less dependent on their employers to prevent abuse.
Currently,too many are here who are not able to do what they want or they’re working well below their capabilities because of limitations of the H1b system.
There are a few things the government can do:
* Give them green cards after they pay taxes for a certain number of years.
* Allow them independence after they work for an employer for a certain period.
* Allow them to start a business or a company, invent or create technology while being on a work visa. Currently,it is not possible due to limitations of the H1b visa system.
* Allow them to stay and change jobs if they’re laid off.
The h1-b visa system is broken. It needs to be repaired urgently.The H1b system is designed in a such a way that it is against them and it is a “take it or leave it” visa. Please don’t forget that H1bs are REAL people LIVING in America and they deserve to be treated under the laws of constitution which apply to citizens.It doesn’t matter whether they are citizens are not .They are living in America and are part of the community wherever they are.Most Americans don’t really get this.You know what, Most Americans are psyched that they have freedom and they don’t realize that H1b folks don’t have any freedom. Why are you content with the system? Do you want to have double standards for yourself and others?
There are many other countries such as Germany which are highly attractive for Engineers. One advantage of Germany is that German government doesn’t treat its engineers or workers (citizens or not) as commodities and throw them away when they’re laid off. Everyone in Germany is protected by laws, whether they’re citizens or not.
President Obama mentioned he is going to reform the system and allow skilled workers to get permanent residence.We’ll have to wait and see.
Everyone on H1b visa and supporters of H1b visas might consider the above suggestions and write to your local senators , goverment officials with suggestions for H1b visa reform.
Sure, sure reform the system and allow more people access to green cards and a ticket to the land of milk and honey. Please however explain to me what is wrong with people returning to theit home countries? Many companies in the U.S have pulled their stakes and moved the I.T. departments off shore to India. Mumbai is currently experiencing an outright surge or explosion in I.T jobs while we have massive unemployment. Why then is it then so undesirable for an Indian to return to India?
None of us forget the Simpson /Mazzoli Bill. The concept was really good in holding the companies that do the hiring of the illegal employess responsible. Twenty million illegal alien crossings later, we wake up and realize that Oh, there was no way to enforce it. (Woops)
Even with these new H1B Visa restrictions for banks receiving TARP funds. Great idea, but does anyone have any idea where the teeth are in this Bill, as in just exactly how are they going to enforce it? How exactly do you prove that the company is cheating?
Did not the original H1B visa Bill clearly state that the companies were only to hire these foreign workers when US workers were not available? Did the companies pay attention to that? Was that Bill ever enforced?
No surprise that H1B Visa Holders are stealing America blind and Sabotaging our military, banks and industrial computers.
Don’t worry about the third world workers taking farm and back breaking labor jobs.
You’d better start worrying about extremely high paying engineering and tecnical jobs being filled by overseas workers, whose governments are hostile to America.
Dumb!
So what exactly did he do? Aren’t companies supposed to protect their data by various software processes and security procedures? I would say fire the manager for not doing a good job along with the guy. Not much of an H1B issue here that I see. Can happen with anyone. A grudge is a grudge. I don’t believe H1B plays any role when it comes to sabotage. The company policies and procedures are weak that it can allow such things to happen.
I worked as a contractor for Fannie Mae for the last 3 years. It is a compnay that misues H1B visa program by hiring lots of guest workers. Positions are “tailor made” and job descriptions are written in a manner that suits H1B visa holders. My contract was terminated Jan 30th and they retained 2 H1B holders in my team, one of them as full-time emplyee and another person as contractor. This injustice needs to be corrected and it needs to be done ASAP !
In my opinion, and particularly in this time of economic decline, any American company hiring foreign workers of ANY kind and under any legal or illegal rationale, for jobs in the U.S. is plainly – ANTI-AMERICAN!
Personally, I think Americans should boycott companies hiring significant numbers of foreigners – and I think it’s time that we also begin weaning ourselves off of foreign-made or foreign-branded products altogether – unless there exists a true trade balance with a particular foreign country.
Yes lets do that…boycott all the companies hiring h1b employees…and let the other countries do the same boycott all the american products…there goes globalization that we so eagerly shoved down their throat…tit for tat is the policy…Jeeezz.
Re: Post 11;
From what I can determine – we have a trade deficit with EVERY single country that we engage in “free trade” with, i.e., we annually buy W-A-Y the hell more goods from them than they do from us.
So – - if these foreign countries were to boycott American products (of which there are fewer-and-fewer on the world market) because we’re boycotting employing their H1B-qualified nationals – - who cares? Most of what we distribute globally are food products – and to most of the countries receiving that food – it’s not a discretionary thing! They have to have it and we’re the only country with sufficient surplus to sell to them.
In 2007, we had a nearly $1 trillion trade deficit with China alone! “Globalization” has accomplished nothing except enriching various third-world countries who now flood out markets with inferior (and sometimes dangerous) goods while our formerly world-leading manufacturing and production capabilities disintegrate, made much worse by economic policy incentives for American companies to move production facilities offshore and to outsource many functions such as customer service.
And, I certainly was NOT a party to “eagerly shoving globalization down foreign countries throats”! I’ve been against “foreign entanglements” since the day I was born!
And, even if Reagan, Bush I, Clinton and Bush II were pushing globalization – it’s a new day – globalization has done more harm than good for us – and, for our own SELF-INTEREST, we need to change some of those economic policies that have clearly failed us!
What’s the big deal? Lower prices for foreign-made junk?
Twenty years ago, the lifespan of an American-made refrigerator was 22-24 years. Today, the life span of the same refrigerators, most now made in foreign countries, is 9-11 years. So – what did we gain by the “lower prices” of foreign-made goods?
And, with the advent of a so-called “global economic policy” – our working middle-class has been decimated and individual and family incomes have actually gone down! If we continue along this road, America will become a country with a 3% upper “investor” class and a 97% “underclass” of working poor! Not much different from the landed-gentry and serfs arrangement of the middle ages!
???
I work at Fannie and about 90% of the IT workers are Indian including management. It is really sad. About 25 Indian contractors go through orientation every week getting really good salaries while born Americans struggle.
Can a job that is currently being performed by an India Immigrant worker be done by someone from US itself? Yes! absolutely. But the question is, are they willing to do it sincerely? No! Certainly NOT! A typical Americans mentality is to make some money and party! Will an American work over time on a Friday evening full heartedly. I haven’t seen one in the past 10 I’ve been in US. But an India Immigrant is worker will. Because, in India, the people are not only taught how to do a job, but are also taught how to do it right and sincerely.
I can confidently make this statement that “If it’s not for Indian Immigrant Workers, US would not have the IT infrastructure that currently exists.
The only people who have problems with the Immigrants are the ones who are Under Achieved Lazy Idiots, who are scared about the competition. If one have the same skills as an Indian Immigrant or better, he or she will not have any problem competing. The only people who have problem are the idiots who cannot win the competition and all they can do is sit on the side lines and complain.
Indian Immigrant workers contribute a great deal to the US Economy and one example is the Social Security. Every Indian Immigrant worker in US pays 6.2% towards Social Security, which adds up to an average of over $10 Billion every year. Most of these Indian Immigrant workers are not going to be in US to retire and see the returns from the Social Security.
US is a country built by Immigrants. An Immigrant Indian Worker might be a first generation immigrant, whereas the one complaining could be a second or third generation immigrant. The fact is everyone in this country is an immigrant and that’s the fact. So Quit sitting on the side lines and complaining, rather get in the race if you have confidence in you.
The thoughts in this article are not well articulated. Author’s personal opinion is full of hate, anger and to some extent senseless. How many Americans will work with database tables, records, write technical documentation of 100 pages and work till 11 PM in office on Friday! How many Americans will wear heavy eye glasses and keep working at screen for 12-13 hours in row and still come up with quality work? I am sure that there are many but are they enough to work in country which is run over web servers, databases and technology? That is the reason why the person was working in Fannie Mae. It is not just the Fannie Mae 100% of World’s top (not just United States) back offices, Information Technology is handled by Indians. If one is not qualified to get a tech job at top notch organization then he needs some career counseling for himself and he also should bar himself to convert his inability into a national issue or something which is wrong. Let’s go back to the History – Why Irish Masons were working to build Churches, Capital and Monument in first place?? Were they cheaper? Weren’t they immigrant from Ireland? Who is Sergey – the Google founder? an Irish man? Nephew of Jesus? Native Indian? who is he by definition? – AN IMMIGRANT!
United States is the Country for everybody, every color, every faith, every talent. It is not the 10% unemployment but it is selection of best athlete for the job. 10% unemployment figure includes majority unskilled Americans making 9.5$ an hour. I would like to quote one example in this regard, During the extreme of financial crisis (as now it is little bit better), I am talking about when all these mega banks needed TARP funds, in late 2008, One job positing of “Quantitative Director – Institutional Securities in New York City” was published on website for 4 and half months and during the time unemployment rate was more than 11%, employer could not find a single US Citizen (white, black, brown, yellow, red)at all!! They needed a candidate with PhD in Finance or Financial Mathematics or Economics with some specialized tools and experience and after 5 months, during a campus recruitment in India at Top Business School, employer found 3 best candidates or somewhat overqualified for that job and they had to file H1B for him. And this was not a job providing more paid for American and paying less as many American blame, This was the job with base salary of 300,000 USD + Bonus + travel expense. It was a job with Nation’s top investment Brokerage house. Now what you will say? That they hired immgrant because he was cheap? Absolutely not! Wharton, Columbia, U-Wisconsin, Harvard, U-Chicago and all other Top B-Schools in USA DO NOT produce more than 600 Finance or Maths or economics PhD? Whatever they produce is immediately placed and therefore demand from employer side for RIGHT CANDIDATE is always higher!
Today myself and eight colleagues of mine were laid off today from a tech company. I guess it was cheaper to keep the h1b visas. And I’m guessing there isn’t enough unemployed high skilled U.S workers in the country to fill high tech jobs.
Indians – Muslins = you love them. Same as you used to love Arabians (because they have money). You love to give visas to them.
Mexican – Christian = you hate them because they do not have money. These are people who are only concerned with working hard and take care of their family. You try as hard as you can to keep them away from a land that used to be belong to them anyway (look at an old map) Stupid Mexicans that do not reclaim and fight for their land.
Tell me now who would you rather live in your neigborhood. I take the Mexicans.