As H-1B visa filing season is about to start in the month of April, a secret organization’s anti-immigration and anti-H-1B visa posters have come up all across Silicon Valley.
It seems they have bought the premium ad spaces for the whole March and April, as fears of propaganda are looming large against immigrants.
Meanwhile Cognizant is battling hard against a series of lawsuits, which have been filed by Americans, accusing them of bias in the workplace.
It seems that the season of anti-immigrant and anti-H-1B has started in the US.
Anti-H-1B Posters Plastered In The Silicon Valley!
The Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR), an organization which lobbies against immigrants and work visas for foreign nationals have bought premium ad space in Silicon Valley and has unleashed a major propaganda campaign.
By paying $80,000, PIR has bought premium ad space inside San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), and have plastered posters which basically incites Americans against foreign workers.
Sample this punchline at one of the posters: “Your companies think you are expensive, undeserving & expendable,”; and another one: “Congress, fix H-1B law so companies must seek & hire US workers!”
When asked about where they got the funding of putting up these posters, PFIR’s Kevin Lynn said,
“Yeah, that’s about right, say $80,000 We get grants, donations..we’ve been around for 10 years, you see.”
As per them, these posters have been designed after “more than a year of thinking about the effects of immigration and hearing from US tech workers who could not find employment.”
When accused of inciting Americans against foreign workers, PFIR says that the posters are an awareness campaign for exploitation of H-1B workers by companies.
People who travel via BART have said that the posters are “scary” and “unnerving”.
BART has distanced themselves from these hate fuelled posters, and have released a statement:
“BART does not endorse these ads. In fact, our Board of Directors passed a Safe Transit Policy in 2017 to send a clear message to the public and our riders that BART is a safe and welcoming system for all people,”
Cognizant Fights Hard Against Anti-White Bias Lawsuits
Meanwhile American IT major Cognizant, which is known as one of the largest sponsors of H-1B visas from India is fighting hard against lawsuits filed by American workers, against them.
These lawsuits claim biased treatment against them, the favour of “less qualified” South Asians workers.
Cognizant is protesting hard against these lawsuits, and have declared them as invalid, and wrong.
The lawsuits are using the clauses mentioned under The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, but plaintiffs’ factual allegations, on their face, plainly pertain to a claim of discrimination based on national origin — not a race,”
In their defense, Cognizant has said that the lawsuit by disgruntled American employees are not covered by any federal civil rights law. In a court filing, Cognizant has argued that the lawsuits are no doubt targeted against “visa holders, but visa-status allegations have nothing to do with race.”
Wipro, TCS, Infosys are also facing similar lawsuits in the US.
We will keep you updated, as we receive more updates.