Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR) Brings Radical Idea of Prioritizing American Workers to Politicon 2018

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR), a nonprofit group, brings the message of protecting U.S. worker rights to the fourth annual Politicon, October 20 and 21 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The event welcomes high-profile names in politics – across the ideological spectrum – and entertainment for a weekend of unconventional discourse that includes debates, panel discussions, Town Halls and comedy, two weeks ahead of mid-term elections.

"The mantra for years now has been that a huge number of foreign workers are needed in the U.S., because these workers are 'doing jobs Americans won't,'" said Kevin Lynn, Executive Director of Progressives for Immigration Reform and founder of U.S. Tech Workers and Doctors without Jobs. "But apparently now we're to believe that doctors, programmers and other skilled technical positions also are among the jobs Americans won't do!

"We're shining a light on the negative impact of U.S. immigration policies that have undermined American workers at all skill levels, but are focusing at Politicon on the impact to physicians and tech workers. I think attendees will be extremely surprised at the level to which tech workers have been sidelined. But they will be completely baffled by the number of doctors who, after the multi-year commitment to medical school and an investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars, cannot work as doctors in the U.S., even as we bring in more foreign doctors to practice medicine."

A stark example of U.S. tech worker displacement is seen in Silicon Valley, widely viewed as the U.S. Tech Capital, where nearly three-quarters of the tech workforce is made up of non-U.S. citizens, The Mercury Times reported in January.

For doctors, in 2018, nearly 1,100 U.S. medical school seniors and more than 800 previous U.S. graduates did not match to a residency at a teaching hospital. Without fulfilling a residency, a doctor cannot practice medicine. For the same period, nearly 4,000 residency slots went to non-U.S. citizen students and graduates of international medical schools. This data is from the National Residency Match Program, which matches doctors to U.S. medical residency positions.

PFIR will be talking about its Doctors without Jobs and U.S. Tech Workers projects and answering questions from Democracy Village at Politicon to build awareness of the issues and engage the politically active who will be at this event. PFIR will be podcasting from the booth, covering panel discussions and introducing GEBB, a comic strip about aliens and bureaucracy in an Antartica underground base. Visitors to the booth can sign-up for an iPad drawing.

About Progressives for Immigration Reform
Progressives for Immigration Reform is a nonprofit organization that educates the public about the unintended consequences of mass migration. PFIR supports economic policies that protect workers' rights, increase wages for less affluent Americans and decrease economic inequality. As well, PFIR supports environmental policies that preserve habitat for wildlife and conserve resources for future generations.

U.S. Tech Workers is fostering a movement to unite tech workers and to advocate for H-1B work visa program reform and the prioritization of hiring U.S. tech workers. Doctors without Jobs is building awareness about the number of doctors who do not match to residencies, which means they cannot practice as doctors, and seeking solutions so all U.S. medical school grads in good standing who want to practice medicine can. Both groups are projects of PFIR.

Contact:    Kevin Lynn, Executive Director, Progressives for Immigration Reform
                 626.825.1331 (m) | 202.543.5325 (o) | klynn(at)pfirdc(dot)org

SOURCE Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR)