The H-1B visa program is designed to displace American workers and facilitate the exploitation of cheap foreign labor. Big companies and their lobbyists in Washington have long sold the program as a necessity in order to maintain labor supply and a “modern” workforce.
In the midst of the Biden-caused maelstrom regarding border security and numerous other immigration issues, the H-1B visa program quietly continues to serve as a tool for corporate America and big businesses not only to make use of cheap foreign labor at the expense of hard-working Americans, but also to perpetrate fraud and engage in corrupt business activities that elevate profit and power above all other considerations.
Corporate America and elites in Washington continue to prioritize their desire for cheap foreign labor over the employment of U.S. workers. There is no well-financed lobby in Washington for border security or displaced workers. As a result, federal immigration policy continues to prioritize the interests of non-citizens and big businesses over those of the citizens from whom the government derives its legitimacy within various visa programs.
These programs are numerous and include the H-2A temporary agriculture worker program, the H-1A nursing visa program, and the more well-known H-1B so-called “specialty occupation” work visa program that has become a favorite of the Chamber of Commerce and Silicon Valley. Decades after it was sculpted into a program to serve the needs of burgeoning tech and consumer-oriented industries, the H-1B program remains rife with fraud and abuse. In light of these realities, policymakers should consider that whatever benefits the program promised at its inception may well have run their course.
It is time to end the H-1B visa in its entirety.
