Known as the Skilled Worker Visa Program. H-1B There are a lot of loopholes – and since its inception in 1990 there have been more. MAGA The movement, long praised by the president-elect. Donald TrumpOpposition to immigration.The distribution has shown the fragility of Trumpwhich now encompasses anti-immigrant MAGA loyalists and Silicon Valley tech globalists. Navigating this terrain will require a talent rarely seen in his first term.

Trump’s uber-rich, tech bro-bestie, Elon Muskis a big supporter of the program, which imports foreign programmers, engineers, accountants and other professionals at wages lower than Americans expect.

Musk had some nasty words over the holidays, threatening to “go to war” with opponents of the visa program. (Tesla ranks 16th in the nation for H-1B visas.) Vivek Ramaswamy, his partner in the Department of Government Efficiency, went even further, with a larger charge. Culture of Central AmericaPostings that require industries Foreign Engineers And as such American culture “honored mediocrity over excellence.” This prompted such an angry backlash from MAGA supporters that Ramaswamy has not posted on the topic since.

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The resulting crack is not sustainable. For more than a decade, Trump has built his brand on limiting immigration, promoting a grassroots base. But he owes much to his return. The White House Rich technicians. Musk himself spent $260 million on Trump’s victory and has become one of his closest advisers.


The risk is that Trump will be persuaded by his deep-pocketed new friends in tech — who continue to donate millions to him, even though he can’t run again — and fail to fix the program’s many flaws. live There are elements of the current program that make little sense that the lottery system is too easily manipulated by mega-recruiters and employers, as Bloomberg News reporters found earlier this year. Why should America rely on a random lottery instead of choosing who to admit? Employers are obviously required to pay prevailing wages and ensure that U.S. citizen workers are not harmed, but enforcement can be weak and there is little data on this. Number of fines imposed.

The program allows nonprofit employers to sponsor 85,000 jobs annually for foreign workers, and more than 500,000 such H-1B visa holders are now employed in the United States. (Spousal visa holders can also get a work permit for their spouse.) Typically, these jobs pay six figures with benefits, but the minimum goes up to $60,000. The program covers everyone from cardiothoracic surgeons to thousands of mid-level accountants, software developers and — at the bottom — even warehouse assistants and management trainees.

The cap has remained unchanged for years, with little thought about whether it’s too high, as critics say, or too low, as Musk says.

And there is no limit to nonprofit employers, including colleges and universities, research institutes, government research institutions and many medical facilities. The number of H-1B visa holders who are employed by nonprofits is difficult to obtain, but it is estimated that 22% of all faculty members at US colleges and universities who are foreign-born are here on visas.

Let’s be clear. Foreign professors can bring a wealth of ideas and experience from other cultures. They are a valuable addition to higher education. But more than a fifth of all faculty?

And in the private sector, despite Ramaswamy and Musk’s comments, the H-1B program doesn’t always seek out the brightest and most qualified people. Many employees are middle-class and in their early 30s. In some cases, they have been used to displace older, more experienced — and expensive — workers. For example, in one particularly infamous case, DisneyCorp. In 2014, it fired 250 technical workers with 90 days’ notice. Those who stayed to train to replace their H-1B visa holders received a small “bonus.”

Because employers control the visas, H-1B workers can be treated essentially like indentured servants. Lose your job and you lose your visa. This is unfair to both the foreign workers and the Americans who might compete with them.

So Trump had a point when he said in 2016 that H-1Bs exist “for the express purpose of substituting low-wage American workers.” He said he was “absolutely committed to ending the massive H-1B abuses and egregious practices” like what happened at Disney and that he “as a cheap labor program. But committed to ending the use of the H-1B forever.”

As president, he issued a 2017 executive order to “Buy American, Hire American.” The program’s rejection rate has more than tripled (to 15%) compared to the Obama administration. Later, Trump cracked down hard.

But now, as he tries to undercut his biggest donor, Trump says he has “always loved” the H-1B visa, calling it a “great program.”

Trump should not capitulate completely. The program badly needs an overhaul, as even Musk, faced with a full-on MAGA backlash, eventually admitted.

But before reforming the program, we need to clarify its purpose. Labor economist and immigration expert Kevin Shea, an associate professor at the University of California, Riverside, said there are serious questions to consider. Should employers be free to roam the world looking for workers, pitting Americans in brutal competition for good jobs? Should universities and research institutes be encouraged to hire skilled foreign workers who can work at low cost?

When I spoke with Shay, he told me that ultimately, a balance must be struck between competing needs.

“Most people would agree with me that there is a place for foreign workers who provide skills that complement our existing workforce while harming American workers as little as possible,” Shay said. said

Musk recently acknowledged that the program needs major reforms, and that it has higher salaries and rising costs to hire foreign workers. Both are important to protect American jobs and prevent the exploitation of foreign workers.

Because there is at least some evidence that, as it exists today, the H-1B program could have the same effect as illegal immigration: an easily controlled workforce and depressed wages for American workers.

Immigrants – especially skilled immigrants – bring a lot to this country. And many visa holders, who hold positions. confidence And the responsibility, has been shocked at the vicious response. But that’s the danger when people see their interests at stake, as some Americans now do.

All of this proves that immigration reform is much more than border control. It has been 35 years since the last comprehensive overhaul. Trump ran on immigration, and he won. Now it’s up to him to fix the program and implement needed reforms — even if his new donors in the tech sector would prefer he didn’t.



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