In 1990, Congress passed legislation allowing employers to hire aliens and pay them significantly lower wages than qualified American workers. The bill’s designers used carefully crafted words to make it sound like it offers protection for American jobs and wages, but actually masks the truth and allows employers to bring in foreign workers and pay them lower wages.
The Immigration Act of 1990, among other policies, introduced the H-1B visa category, which was touted as a “high-skilled” visa program, but in reality has undermined American science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workers and resulted in wage stagnation in an industry that employs our best and brightest.
The H-1B visa program was brought once again into the public spotlight during the presidential transition last December when there was a split between proponents of expanding the program, such as Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, and those in President Trump’s base who favored reductions in all forms of immigration, especially in light of over ten million illegal border crossings during the previous administration.
According to John Miano of the Center for Immigration Studies, the program relies on a “trust me” system, only requiring employers to say they are paying foreign-born employees the same wages as American citizens. However, there is no provision for the Secretary of Labor to ensure this is true.
The Secretary of Labor is supposed to review the Labor Condition Applications for aliens set to receive this visa, but the law stipulates that the Secretary only reviews the applications for incompleteness or inaccuracies. If none are found, the visa is granted. If inconsistencies are found, then the employer can be fined, but the alien would still be granted the visa.
Almost all Labor Condition Applications have inaccurate wage claims so that employers can pay aliens less. However, very few employers receive consequences for this. The reason is that Congress prohibits the Department of Labor from reviewing the content of Labor Condition Applications. The Department of Labor is just a cover to make this law seem like it protects American jobs, but it actually plays no meaningful role.
Congress clearly went through a great deal of trouble to pass legislation that allows employers to take advantage of desperate aliens and pay them lower wages than American workers, resulting in reduced opportunities for American citizens. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, less than a third of STEM degree holders actually work in STEM jobs. This legislation hurts the American job market, American workers, and foreign-born workers.
This visa category, along with chain migration, has also transformed many communities in our state, particularly in our major metropolitan regions.
Texans for Strong Borders urges United States elected officials to eliminate the H-1B visa and instead reform our legal immigration system to protect American workers and put their interests first.
It is in our national interest to ensure that our brightest young minds who pursue rigorous degree programs are placed in jobs that will drive the technological dominance of the United States far into the 21st century, and that these American citizens can earn a living commensurate with their skills and expertise.