This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) was established with noble intentions, to regulate immigration in a way that benefits both American workers and foreign talent.

However, over time, this system has been exploited to prioritize profits over people, undermining the American workforce and perpetuating inequities. While the INA is supposed to protect U.S. workers, its enforcement, or lack thereof, has created a dysfunctional ecosystem where key players manipulate the rules with impunity.

To understand this, we need to examine the roles of the Department of Labor (DOL), the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA), and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) the primary agencies tasked with regulating employment-based immigration.

The Department of Labor (DOL): The Overworked Referee

The DOL's job is to ensure that employment-based immigration programs don't harm U.S. workers by displacing them or suppressing wages. Unfortunately, the DOL often acts more like a rubber stamp than a watchdog.

What the DOL is Supposed to Do

1. PERM Labor Certification: Certify that no qualified U.S. worker is available for a job before allowing a foreign worker to be hired.
2. Prevailing Wage Determinations: Ensure employers pay foreign workers wages comparable to those paid to American workers for similar jobs.

\What Happens in Practice

The DOL's oversight has glaring weaknesses. Employers exploit loopholes to sideline qualified Americans:

• Sham Recruitment: Employers claim they advertised positions, but these ads often appear in obscure publications or have unreasonable requirements. For example, an ad might run in a small-town newspaper when the job is located in a major city, effectively ensuring no one applies.
• Manipulated Job Descriptions: Employers craft job postings to exclude American candidates by adding impossible qualifications, like requiring ten years of experience in a technology that's only existed for five.
• Ignoring Layoff Data: Employers filing for PERM certifications during layoffs are required to disclose this information. But many simply lie, and the DOL rarely checks.

The Consequences

Qualified Americans are routinely overlooked, and wages for both foreign and domestic workers are suppressed. The DOL's lack of enforcement allows bad actors to continue gaming the system.

BALCA: The Appellate Body That Reflects Systemic Issues

The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) is an administrative body that reviews denials of labor certifications. BALCA serves as a critical checkpoint, but its rulings often highlight how employers manipulate the system and how weak DOL enforcement really is.

What BALCA Does

• Reviews Recruitment Efforts: Determines whether employers made genuine attempts to hire U.S. workers.
• Evaluates Prevailing Wage Compliance: Ensures that employers aren't underpaying foreign workers to save costs.
• Interprets Regulations: Sets precedents on how rules should be applied.

Common Issues BALCA Encounters

• Job Descriptions Designed to Exclude Americans: Employers claim no American workers meet qualifications that are excessively narrow or arbitrary.
• Failure to Consider U.S. Applicants: Employers reject Americans for vague or unjustified reasons, such as being "overqualified."
• Inadequate Recruitment: Some employers post job ads for the bare minimum time or on platforms unlikely to attract applicants.

The Problem with BALCA's Role

While BALCA can reject fraudulent certifications, it lacks the authority to impose penalties. This means employers who violate rules face no real consequences. Worse, BALCA decisions often expose systemic flaws but don't fix them, leaving the door open for continued abuse.

USCIS: The Administrator with Too Much on Its Plate

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) oversees visa programs like H-1B, adjudicates green card applications, and monitors compliance with immigration laws. Despite its critical role, USCIS is hampered by inefficiencies, lack of transparency, and weak anti-fraud measures.

The H-1B Lottery
USCIS runs an annual lottery to allocate 85,000 H-1B visas. Employers are supposed to prove they genuinely need foreign workers to fill these positions. However:

• Duplicate Registrations: Some employers submit hundreds of applications for the same worker using shell companies to increase their chances of winning the lottery.
• Hiring During Layoffs: Even companies laying off thousands of American workers are allowed to file for H-1B visas, claiming labor shortages.

Fraud and Abuse

USCIS has acknowledged rampant fraud in visa programs but lacks the resources to address it effectively:

• Shell Companies: Employers create fake entities to manipulate the lottery or transfer workers to other companies after approval.
• Underpaying Workers: Foreign workers are often paid less than the prevailing wage, which lowers wages across the industry.

Operational Inefficiencies

The agency's backlogs in processing applications lead to delays that harm both employers and workers. Meanwhile, employers exploit temporary work authorizations to sidestep regulations, exacerbating displacement of U.S. workers.

The exploitation of immigration programs doesn't just harm American workers, it distorts the entire labor market. Here's how:

1. Displacement of U.S. Workers: Qualified Americans lose out on jobs to foreign workers, often because employers manipulate the system to hire cheaper labor.
2. 2. Wage Suppression: When foreign workers are underpaid, wages for everyone, foreign and domestic, are dragged down.
3. Erosion of Worker Protections: Visa-dependent workers have limited bargaining power, weakening collective protections for all employees.
4. Economic Instability: Over-reliance on foreign labor makes industries vulnerable to global disruptions while neglecting domestic talent development.

Why Should Americans Care?

If you're not in tech or STEM fields, you might think this doesn't affect you. But the systemic issues in immigration programs have far-reaching consequences:

1. Reduced Job Opportunities: Displacement and wage suppression ripple through the economy, affecting industries beyond tech.
2. Weakened Economic Growth: Failing to invest in domestic talent undermines long-term innovation and competitiveness.
3. Eroded Trust in Institutions: When agencies fail to enforce rules, public confidence in the system erodes, leading to resentment and division.

What Needs to Change

1. Stronger Enforcement by the DOL: Require thorough audits of recruitment efforts and layoff disclosures. Penalize employers who lie or manipulate the system.
2. Reform the H-1B Lottery: Limit duplicate registrations and prioritize employers with a proven need for foreign talent.
3. Increased Transparency from USCIS: Publish real-time data on visa applications and employer practices to hold bad actors accountable.
4. Empower BALCA: Give BALCA the authority to impose penalties on employers who violate regulations.

Conclusion:

The INA was meant to balance economic growth with labor protections, but it has become a tool for exploitation. Understanding the roles of the DOL, BALCA, and USCIS and their shortcomings is critical to demanding accountability and reform. Americans must engage with these issues, not just for the sake of fairness, but to ensure the future of a labor market that truly serves everyone.