US: H-1B workers outnumber unemployed techies

Hello to everyone in cyberland! You're here because, at some level, you're curious about this blog's theme that outsourcing American jobs is a manifestation of the "greed virus". Now we have some more fire to heat the flames of frustration as a company called Vision Systems Group" was caught with its hand in the H1B cookie jar referenced by a May 26, 2009 Computerworld article at:

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9133529&source=rss_news


Note: * Vision Systems Group in South Plainfield, NJ URL found at http://www.vsginc.com/ "

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** Here's a bit of that Computerworld article quote that caught my attention:

"Vision Systems was included in a sweep that led to arrests of some 11 people in six states. The government, in announcing its action, said the companies and people involved were "displacing qualified American workers," but didn't identify how many. In court papers filed last month, the U.S. indicated it may be getting ready to do just that. The U.S. said it is "prepared to demonstrate to the court the manner in which the defendant's schemes, along with similar schemes by similar companies have substantially deprived U.S. citizens of employment." The government then points out that "in January of 2009, the total number of workers employed in the information technology occupation under the H-1B program substantially exceeded the 241,000 unemployed U.S. citizen workers within the same occupation."

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There is mention of "similar companies" in this quote and makes me wonder how many others are on the H1B gravy train?
The article continues to provide another troubling factoid to "digest" as follows:

"In the case of Vision Systems, the U.S. said the company "consistently hired only foreign workers in order to fill information technology positions within the United States." The government said "although the exact amount of loss to U.S. citizen workers has not yet been determined, there is no question that the amount of lost wages and benefits to U.S. citizens has been substantial"

Given our current economic crisis ( both state and federal ) wouldn't it be nice for this country to have Americans spending those paychecks rather than non citizens? Ok...nuff said ... any opinions out there about this latest bit of news?