January 4th, 2025 7:15 AM
There has been a fierce battle raging online in MAGA world over H-1B visas.
When asked about it at his New Year’s Eve celebration at Mar-a-Lago, President-elect Donald Trump declared, “I didn’t change my mind on H-1B visas. I’ve always felt we have to have the most competent people in our country. We need smart people in our country. We need a lot of people coming in. We’re going to have jobs like never before.”
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s reply was soon quoted in the Times of India, which is where most H-1b recipients hail from.
But Trump has changed his mind, or at least his public posture, on the subject of H-1B visas. He previously called them “bad” and “very unfair.” As president, Trump got the Tennessee Valley Authority to backtrack on a plan to replace Americans with H-1B workers.
However, it’s potentially beneficial that this whole thing erupted because it brings up issues that need to be publicly discussed.
In the recent dustup over H-1B visas, their biggest defenders were Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, both of whom also claim that the program needs reform.
Last month, Ramaswamy tweeted a lengthy putdown of American culture as a reason we need to import foreigners, presumably Indians. After all, India has racked up a whopping five Nobel prizes in the hard sciences since 1913.
Yes, Vivek, there is plenty to criticize about contemporary American culture, but how is bringing in thousands more immigrants going to improve anything?
Vivek’s statements were mild, however, compared to the hysterical reactions of Elon Musk.
“For those who want America to lose for their own personal gain, I have no respect. Zero,” Elon wrote about those who oppose an increase in legal immigration.
In another tweet, Musk cursed out those who oppose H-1B and threatened, “I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.”
Huh?
What exactly is the H-1B program? To hear its supporters tell it, H-1B is an indispensable vehicle for bringing in smart people and America will collapse without it.
Here’s how Kevin Lynn, founder of U.S. Tech Workers, describes it:
“It’s indisputable that Silicon Valley’s use of the H-1B visa program is not a mechanism to bring in the best and the brightest but a tool for obtaining cheap foreign labor. Over the years, the program was often exploited to replace American workers, some even forced to train their visa replacements before being laid off as part of their severance agreement… The data reveals that H-1B visas are frequently used to bring in ordinary workers filling routine jobs at much lower wages than their American counterparts.”
Of course, there is a strong Indian connection:
“Furthermore, a significant portion of the H-1B visa program’s sponsorship comes from Indian IT outsourcing companies, which are not driving innovation but enabling U.S. companies to outsource entire departments to these outsourcing companies, who eventually offshore these U.S. jobs to low-labor cost countries like India.”
Is that America First?
“The main function of the H-1B visa program is not to hire ‘the best and the brightest,’ but rather to replace good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad,” Sen. Bernie Sanders recently tweeted in response to Musk’s comments.
Isn’t H-1B an employment program, not an immigration program?
Well, as Kevin Lynn reports, “Indian visa workers are often promised Green Card sponsorship in exchange for their loyalty to their employers.”
By the way, there already is a visa, the O-1A, designed for “individuals with an extraordinary ability in the sciences, education, business, or athletics,” which allows the holders to stay up to three years.
If they truly are indispensable geniuses with unique skills, I’m sure the government could figure out a way to get them to stay.
We’re constantly told that we can’t live without more immigration, even though we have 341 million people in the U.S. Maybe it’s time to start protecting their interests and not those of the rest of the world.
Besides, if these H-1B holders are so gifted, shouldn’t they stay in their home country of India and make it a better place to live?