District Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland, CA Says Big Tech Can Keep Flooding the U.S. with Foreign Workers
In October we shared news of the White
House's reform to the H-1B visa program. Such reforms would have helped American tech workers and improved economic conditions for millions.
Not anymore. A federal district judge has ruled against the reforms.
H-1B: Bay Area Council, Stanford Win as Trump Administration's New Visa Rules Shot Down – Mercury News
Background: The Trump Administration's reforms included imposing salary requirements on companies when they employ foreign workers on H-1B visas. It also limited the occupations for which U.S. corporations could get an H-1B visa.
Several organizations opposed the new visa rules:
- The Bay Area Council – a group of major executives, bankers, and government workers
- Stanford University
- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- The National Association of Manufacturers
All of these organizations directly benefit from having more H-1B visas, which they can use to replace American workers at lower salaries.
Judge White in the U.S. District Court of Oakland struck down the reforms on December 1…six days before they would have gone into effect. Probably not a coincidence.
Professor Ron Hira of Howard University, a longtime economic critic of the H-1B visa program, called this ruling “a significant blow to U.S. workers.” However, he offered a ray of hope: By re-filing the reforms under a standard federal approval process, the Trump Administration could still implement them.
Will this take place amid the post-election chaos? We cannot say, but we hope such reforms would go forward. The American workforce cannot restore itself if Big Tech ignores them in favor of H-1Bs.
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