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July 20, 2007
 Does
“Upwardly Global” Mean Downwardly Mobile For American Workers?
By Joe
Guzzardi
Within the last few years, three of my ten nieces and
nephews have left
Guatemala, where they were born (their mothers both
married Guatemalans when our family were
expatriates there) and moved to the U.S.
Two of
them have relocated in
California and the third, in
Florida.
All are
employed. One works in a middle-management job in the
hotel industry, the second is in international
sports broadcasting and the third in
retail.
Since
they are
bilingual, well-groomed and
educated, they had no trouble landing work.
But, odd
as it may seem, I’m of two minds about their recent relocation.
On the
one hand, I’m delighted that they have left Guatemala’s
cultural and economic wasteland.
At the
same time, I have to wonder if they have taken jobs that would
otherwise have gone to job-seeking Americans, or to the employed
among us who want to
improve their station in life.
I have,
after all, spent most of the
last twenty years arguing on behalf of the ever-shrinking
American middle class.
Then
again, who really knows? In the immigration-mad world in which
we live,
illegal aliens may have filled the jobs my relatives now
hold.
The rub
in all this is that my nieces and nephews ARE Americans.
Well, make that “Americans.” Even though they were
born in Guatemala, visited America only occasionally and
consider themselves Guatemaltecas through and through,
they have U.S. passports.
They
are, because of what is known in
citizenship law as
ius sanguinis (“right of the blood”), as
American as you or me.
My
nieces and nephew are American citizens (actually
dual citizens) with passports that allow them the freedom to
come and go from the U.S. as they please.
According to Section 301
of the INA [8 USC
§ 1401] the following classes of people have US citizenship
from the time of birth:
- Anyone born in the US and
subject to its jurisdiction (basically meaning anyone
other than a child of foreign government representatives
with diplomatic immunity);
- Anyone
born outside the US, if at least one parent is a US
citizen and certain residency or physical presence
requirements were fulfilled by the citizen parent or parents
prior to the child's birth;
- Anyone who is found in the US while under five years of age,
whose parents cannot be identified, and who is not shown
prior to his or her 21st birthday to have
been born outside the US.
Under
the provision that grants citizenship to children born outside
of the U.S. and who have at least one citizen parent who
satisfies “certain residency or physical presence
requirements,” my nieces and nephew qualify as citizens.
In other
words, their citizen mothers lived in the U.S. for a period long
enough to meet
immigration law requirements.
Whatever
impact my relatives’ presence in the U.S. may have on the
labor market is beyond anyone’s control. No part of
ius sanguinis will be changed anytime soon. In fact,
efforts to alter these laws have been only in
“more
liberal direction”,
according to dual
citizenship expert
Rich Wales.
However,
non-citizen legal immigrants,
green card holders, present an altogether different
challenge.
A recent
Associated Press story stated that immigrants expect to land
jobs equal to
positions they held in their home country. Whether or not
they have skills equivalent to those of native Americans is
questionable. [Educated
Immigrants Often Cannot Connect With Jobs That Match Skills,
by Julianna Barbassa, Associated Press, July 14, 2007]
A bank
vice president in
Honduras does not necessarily have the same abilities or
training as a Manhattan-based
Citibank vice president.
But in
our corporate world, addicted to
affirmative action, ability may be less important than
diversity.
Check
out what John Bradley, director of human resources at the
investment bank
JP Morgan Chase had to say.
“This (legal
immigrants) is clearly an under-leveraged talent pool. We’re
in constant need of a supply of talent and this is a viable,
well-trained source that we hadn’t focused on in the past.”
Reading Bradley’s comment, the uninitiated might
think that JP Morgan Chase has to scramble to find personnel. Of
course, the exact opposite is true. The prestigious firm can
pick and choose among thousands of
qualified American prospects.
But instead, Bradley—and
dozens of other Fortune 500 corporations—now rely on
Upwardly
Global
(see its website
here), a nonprofit organization with offices in New York and
San Francisco that, according to founder Jane Leu, [email
her] recruits “well-educated
legal immigrants”
and helps them “sharpen
their ability to market themselves and connect with employers
interested in their skills.”
JP Morgan Chase is the “premier
partner”
with
Upwardly
Global.
Predicted Bradley: “I’m
convinced that over the next 12 months you will thank us for
being part of this.”
How much
you thank JP Morgan Chase may depend upon your point of view.
If you are
an immigrant from one of
the 50 countries and coached by
Upwardly
Global
in the intricacies of the job interview, you’re delighted.
But if you
are a
displaced American professional, the chances are you’ll be
more
angry than thankful.
Most
infuriating is the
sense of entitlement.
Remember
that every legal immigrant voluntarily decides to migrate to the
U.S.
Before
embarking on his trip, they presumably weighed many factors. Top
among them would be job opportunities.
What would
make any immigrant think that they would immediately be at the
head of the line for professional positions? What starting
job would they expect to hold—partner at
Goldman, Sachs?
But the
Upwardly Global website is full of
unsubstantiated claims and mumbo-jumbo about the value of
foreign-born workers like this one from consultant Ed Hubbard:
“Ignoring
foreign-born workers' contributions because of bias can cost
companies as much as 25% of an eight-hour workday.”
And this tripe from former Bank of America Executive
Vice President of Corporate Diversity Development,
Valerie Crane:
“Corporate
culture crosses all geographies, and we have to balance global
with local needs, corporate values with local, and ensure a
culture of inclusion.”
If you live in
New York or
San Francisco, where
Upwardly
Global
maintains offices, and have some time on your hands as summer
winds down, attend one of its events for an eye-opening
experience. See the schedule
here.
The stakes are high for all of us. Note that one of
the
Upwardly
Global
“success stories”
is that of Columbian-born
Clara Ines Torres who, when she first came to America, was a
part-time Spanish tutor.
But Torres has moved up in the world. Currently,
thanks to
Upwardly
Global she works for
Catholic Charities as a paid immigration advocate.
Great! Just what we need!
More
immigration advocacy!
Joe Guzzardi [e-mail
him] is the Editor of VDARE.COM Letters to the Editor.
In addition, he is an English teacher at the Lodi Adult School and has
been writing
a weekly newspaper column since 1988. This column is exclusive
to
VDARE.COM. |
