H-1B visa program, which allows US companies to hire foreign workers, is under fire from the American workforce and lawmakers. A Republican congresswoman has called for a total ban on the H-1B temporary visa program, reports Newsweek.
“That H-1B visa program has got to either stop right now until we understand the amount of just how it’s being taken advantage of, or redone so it doesn’t exist. It cannot continue in the way it has,” said Texas Representative Beth Van Duyne to conservative commentator Benny Johnson, Newsweek reported.
Van Duyne stated that phasing out H-1B visas was part of a larger strategy to “go after the immigration system,” which would also include repealing the 1965 Hart-Celler Act, a federal law that eliminated national-origin quotas favoring European immigrants and prioritized family reunification and skills-based immigration.
American Workers and H-1B Visa
The H-1B visa program allows US companies to employ highly educated foreign professionals to work in ‘specialty occupations’ requiring at least a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent.
A recent survey by Blind, the anonymous community app for verified professionals, shows that 56% of Americans perceive H-1B visa holders as displacing U.S. jobs, intensifying discussions surrounding the foreign workforce within the American economy.
US Lawmakers and H-1B Visa
Other Republican lawmakers have also raised their voices against the foreign worker H-1B Visa program.
Representative Chip Roy had introduced the Pausing All Admissions Until Security Ensured (PAUSE) Act, calling for revision in H-1B and ending the OPT program completely.
In November, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene announced that she would introduce legislation to “End the mass replacement of American workers by aggressively phasing out the H1B program.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Dick Durbin are scrutinizing major corporations for filing thousands of H-1B skilled labor visa petitions after conducting mass layoffs of American employees. Grassley and Durbin wrote in letters to 10 major employers in the United States.
Grassley and Durbin were seeking information from companies about their hiring practices, specifically regarding salary and benefits disparities between H-1B visa holders and American employees.
Earlier, in an X post, Congressman Riley M. Moore wrote, “The H-1B program has been grossly abused to undercut the American worker and replace domestic talent with foreign workers. House Appropriations passed my amendment pushing back on the false STEM workforce shortage claims used to import foreign workers. The amendment directs the U.S. Department of Labor to examine the H-1B and Schedule A list and provide a report on how these programs harm the American worker.”
Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri on X wrote, “The H-1B visa was sold as a way to keep America competitive. Instead, it imported millions of foreign nationals to replace American workers–and transferred entire industries into the lands of foreign lobbies.”