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Nine foreign-based companies that specialize in offshoring U.S. technology jobs received about 20,000 H-1B visas last year, according to data released yesterday by U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). The top user of H-1B visas is India-based Infosys Technologies Ltd., which received 4,908 visas in the 2006 fiscal year. It was followed by Wipro Ltd., which received 4,002 visas, and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., with 3,046.

... Rep. Thelma Drake (R-Va.), backed by her leaders, filed the discharge petition calling for a vote on the Shuler bill, which would add 8,000 border guards to the federal payroll, expedite the deportation of illegal immigrants and expand an existing database for employers to check the eligibility of a potential worker. ...http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/8977.html

Something unorthodox occurred on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. The House Republican leadership began pushing a “discharge petition” — a procedural maneuver designed to force a floor vote — on a piece of Democratic legislation. The bill in question is the SAVE Act, authored by freshmen Congressman Heath Shuler (D., N.C.).

“The current levels of immigration are about five times higher than our tradition,” said Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations for NumbersUSA, an anti-illegal immigration group. “In our view, the best way to assure assimilation is to reduce the numbers… That means more resources per capita for new immigrants coming in...”