If that weren't enough, the added to the , including a settlement last month requiring a Virginia-based company that also operates an offshore center in India to pay US$1.7 million to 343 employees. Obama says he wants to "hold accountable employers who abuse the system and their workers," ( ).

Will Obama increase the H-1B cap? Obama supports raising the H-1B cap and did so in the in 2007. It would have increased the current 85,000 cap, which includes 20,000 visas set aside for graduates with advanced degrees. The Senate effort, which died in the House, would have allowed increases of up to 180,000 H-1B visas, as well as additional visas for advanced-degree graduates. Obama also continues to support comprehensive immigration reform.

Excuse me, but how can Obama support increasing H-1B visas during a recession? Good question. Tech companies are cutting employees and the . The largest users of the H-1B visa are India offshore companies. When a U.S. company hires an outsourcing vendor, U.S. workers may be required - if they want their severance - to train their H-1B holding replacements. Moreover, offshoring is increasingly being aimed at jobs.

Obama has pledged "to stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas," but he hasn't linked the H-1B visa to this issue. are worried he may do so.

Why not increase green cards instead? Last May, U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), tried to bypass the immigration deadlock to clear a direct path to permanent residency -- green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. universities with advanced degrees. Congress isn't expected to act on those bills during the upcoming lame-duck session.