The latest H-1B dust-up

The Immigration Accountability Project has been a leader in exposing the problems with the H-1B visa program. The program allows more than 85,000 new foreign workers each year to compete with American workers in jobs from computer programming to general accounting to advertising.

IAP's Cofounder and Policy Director Rosemary Jenks has joined Steve Bannon's War Room podcast several times to discuss the many flaws within the H-1B program. She joined Bannon again on Thursday to talk about legislation—the PAUSE Act—that Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) will introduce soon to halt the issuance of all immigration and guest worker visas, including H-1Bs.

The controversy over H-1B visas reached a fever pitch on Tuesday after Pres. Donald Trump defended the program in a sit-down interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham. Ingraham suggested that the annual number of H-1B visas should be reduced since they depress wages for American workers who are forced to compete, or are outright replaced, with foreign workers. Pres. Trump agreed that the visas can depress wages, but also doubled down in his support for the program.

"You do have to bring in talent...you don’t have certain talents [in the United States] and people have to learn."

-- Pres. Trump

On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was on Fox and Friends to try to clarify the President's comments:

"I think the president's vision here is to bring in overseas workers where these jobs went, who have the skills, 3, 5, 7 years to train the U.S. workers. Then they can go home, and the U.S. workers fully take over."

-- Treasury Secretary Bessent 

The Trump Administration has taken some important steps to reduce the abuses within the H-1B visa program. Recently, it increased the application fee to $100,000, but the increase only applies to H-1B workers who are not currently in the United States--a small number of actual H-1B recipients. The Department of Labor has been touting its newly formed “Operation Firewall” to investigate H-1B fraud, but no results have yet been reported. We offer our own legislative and administrative solutions on our H-1B fact sheet

Immigration Articles

The Economic Times: US Congressman Chip Roy to introduce bill seeking "freeze on all immigration"
Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX) announced this week that he’s working on a bill that would place a moratorium on immigration. IAP has been working closely with him on this legislation.

Blaze Media: The H-1B system is broken. Here’s how to fix it.
Senator Jim Banks (R-IN) had another op-ed this week on how the H-1B system replaces American STEM graduates, as well as the solutions he proposes in the American Tech Workforce Act (S. 2821).

Catholic Accountability Project: Immigration Enforcement and the Christian Conscience
Our friends at CatholicVote published an excellent article on Catholic teaching and immigration policy. Author Benjamin Mann writes, “While remaining open to some legal immigration, we would like to find prudent ways of exporting America’s success, not importing other countries’ failures. Indeed, a country is best poised to benefit other nations when it puts its own people first—creating the conditions of abundance.”

DHS: ICE and State, Local Law Enforcement 287(g) Partners Launch Initiative to Protect Vulnerable Children the Biden Administration Allowed to be Placed with Unvetted Sponsors
ICE and its 287(g) local partners have started an initiative to protect the nearly half a million unaccompanied alien children (UACs) who, under the Biden administration, were smuggled over the border and placed with sponsors who had not been vetted. IAP is still working to fix the law—the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA)—that created this problem.

Next Week

The government has reopened, and the House and Senate will be back next week before they take off for Thanksgiving. Make sure you tune in to the House Committee on Education & Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections hearing next Wednesday at 10:15 am. IAP’s Director of Policy, Rosemary Jenks, will be testifying before the Subcommittee on E-Verify. You can find the livestream here.