(José Niño, Headline USA) Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, called for a temporary halt to the H-1B migration program amid mounting evidence that it pushes American professionals out of white collar careers, Breitbart News reported.
“Let’s pause the H1B program,” Lee tweeted as reports multiplied about the replacement of American graduates and displacement of workers in California, New Jersey, and Texas.
Lee joins a growing number of Republican politicians acknowledging the damage that legal migration inflicts on middle class Americans.
“We have an illegal and legal immigration problem in this country,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said on March 16. “The H-1B & OPT programs are being used to displace American workers and students by incentivizing American employers & institutions to import foreign labor. We need reform now.”
Lee posted his statement shortly after retweeting a post from Texas suggesting fraud by one of the many Indian run companies that import H-1B visa workers from India for lease to other Indian run subcontracting firms.
Lee’s reversal is particularly striking given his past advocacy for expanding the program. Breitbart News reported that Lee led an effort in 2019 and 2020 to accelerate the inflow of Indian jobseekers during Trump’s first term. Sources told the outlet that Utah’s top political leadership pressured Lee to support the bill because Utah’s real estate industry wanted to attract more Indian companies to the state. Pro American groups and staffers blocked his push at the time.
The H-1B program brings in roughly 150,000 new workers annually, including approximately 35,000 spouses who hold H4EAD work permits. These workers undercut skilled American graduates because many accept very low wages hoping to eventually secure the ultimate prize of legal status in the United States. Roughly one million H1B workers currently hold jobs in the American white collar sector.
The massive H-1B population also obscures a similar number of foreign workers enrolled in the J1, O1, L1, L2, TN, Optional Practical Training, and Curricular Practical Training programs.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
