Opinion: UC’s replacement of American IT workers with imported labor is a disgrace

To the editor: I was appalled to read Michael Hiltzik’s column about University of California system information technology jobs going to migrant workers from India. (“How the University of California exploited a visa loophole to move tech jobs to India,” Jan. 6)

What message does it send that UC believes so little in the skills of its American IT employees that it not only puts profits above integrity, but also weakens our California economy with unnecessary and unwarranted layoffs of skilled individuals? This is an outrageous abuse of the federal H-1B visa program that might be acceptable in the for-profit world but not UC.

I have sent three children to UC schools, and I am outraged by this. The university’s move is the epitome of economic and moral blindness.

Sheila Goldman, Woodland Hills

..

To the editor: Hiltzik is appalled that UC is using a visa loophole to fire American workers and replace them with lower-paid immigrants.

This action by UC should not be surprising in view of the fact that it admits illegal immigrants as students and even allows ones who live in California to pay the lower tuition rate reserved for state residents.

In both cases, UC is flouting federal immigration law and putting the interests of immigrants ahead of those of Americans.

Jeff Duncan, Sherman Oaks

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook