This article appears in Indian news media. The H1-B visa was never written to cause the loss of American employment. This is not about companies that are downsizing due to the virus, this is about employers that literally look to replace their well paid American workers with people from other countries and paid far less than their American counterparts.
The Democratic House Majority should be seeking out priorities of their Republican members to make legislation bipartisan and this bill is an easy "Yes" vote across the bipartisan members.
The necessity for this bill is absolute proof of the draconian nature of the private industry and their CEOs' inappropriate use of generous American policy. In addition to the priority of this bill to maintain American employment over that of their foreign counterparts, a clause needs to include the demand to keep American workers over those with an H1-B Visa if the company downsizes for any reason.
Keeping American workers employed should be the priority of all elected officials at all levels of government. Protecting Americans from loss of employment over foreign workers is NOT RACISM. These programs exist to assist American employers that cannot find American employees to fill their professional requirements. It is not to bring more minorities into the USA. Upholding the dignity and importance of American workers also includes the American minority status as well. Minority Americans are protected under this bill as well.
Methods to eliminate American workers from employment for cheaper labor is simply wrong. This is only one of the methods that threaten Americans in the labor market. It might be necessary for foreign workers on H1B Visas to return to their homelands as they should not be included in the $1.9 trillion support bill before Congress now. That is not racism, it is practical for returning Americans to find work again. Any foreign workers on the H1B Visa should have the understanding they do not have the same status as American-born workers.
March 4, 2021
Three American lawmakers (click here) have introduced a legislation in the House of Representatives that stops employers from hiring foreign H-1B workers if they have recently, or plan to, furlough their US workers and requires employers to pay their H-1B workers more than their American workers.
Introduced by Republican Congressmen Mo Brooks, Matt Gaetz and Lance Gooden the American Jobs First Act proposes to overhaul the H-1B visa program by making necessary changes in the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The H-1B visa, the most sought after among Indian IT professionals, is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of ...
