[bsder]

Because you've got it backwards.

H-1Bs depress salaries because the companies don't have to give an H1-B a significant raise, basically, ever (read: 5+ years or more).

If people can get green cards in 24 months, those people can leave indentured servitude for a company that pays better. It also completely obliterates the "body shops" as they would have to pay a bunch of money for people who are going to jump out at the first opportunity. So, companies wouldn't automatically bring in a visa holder as there wouldn't be a real advantage over a domestic worker unless there was a real, technical reason for doing so.

I have no problem competing with tech people who come here and can move between companies. In addition, immigrants in tech are generally from a higher socioeconomic strata in their home country and have a tendency to found companies.

More tech folks normally means a need for even more tech folks as long as they aren't artificially suppressed.