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Comment by norea-armozel | Hacker News Reader

The funny thing about the H1B program is that the majority of people who voted for Trump or vote for the Republicans rarely ever talk about it. It's always fear of some Mexican teenager trying to "steal" some low wage agriculture job. It never seems to enter the minds of the conservatives that the facts of immigration aren't what they make it out to be. Specifically, that illegal immigrants are the least significant factor in depressed wages. H1B is a larger factor in this regard. So, it's funny that Trump's the only candidate in a long time to raise this issue. Too bad he's utter crap on the rest of his politics.

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He's hardly the only one, see e.g. Sessions, his pick for AG, which will allow them to crack down on the white line illegal uses of H-1B visas without any need for new legislation.

You're mistaking talking about it with the press being unable to ignore Trump like they'd done with the previous politicians who'd made a fuss about it, modulo the symbol laden example of Disney pulling this stunt, which, you'll note, they never made a "campaign" about. To take one of the most ludicrous and iconic example of this, the NYT had much more important things to do, like get women membership in the Augusta National Golf Club.

It's also the case that H-1Bs only seriously affect our domain of "IT", and unless you're in that, it's not in your face like Latin Americans e.g. transforming your neighborhood. Something I witnessed in the dozen years I spent in central Arlington, VA (although these, at least, made good neighbors. Heh, in the D.C. Metro area Arlington was by a good measure the most "diverse" of the municipalities/counties).

First, H1Bs aren't illegal. The companies are following the rules to the letter of the law. It's the H1B program that's the problem. Second, no politician in the years H1B was enacted sought its suspension. It's been in existence for a long time (seems decades by my reading of the Migration and Nationality Act of 1965), so what took them so long to notice? I think the fact that FWD.us was exposed for what it was got the ball rolling, among other factors such as the depressed wages of professors in universities across the country.

Direct replacement of a citizen or permanent resident employee with an H-1B visa holder is technically illegal. Weasel word because up to now, the DoJ has not seen fit to prosecute such cases.

Per Wikipedia, it started in 1990, thanks to G. H. W. Bush and the Democratic Congress (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B_visa). Which would have followed the NSF's et. al. 1980's campaign to reduce the cost of scientific labor by claiming there was a grave skills shortage.

As for "suspending it", Sessions at least took the "Intel yes, Infosys no" approach with his 2015 bill, but I agree the whole program is a problem. But I'll take his and Trump's position, which I think will take legislation, as a good first step.

It's not a weasel word. It's a fact. Law isn't about what's right, it's about what works. H1B worked for a while, but now it doesn't. So take it to Congress and stop trying to support an overt xenophobe like Jeff Sessions who also is a garbage fire when it comes to LGBT rights. It's just not gonna happen.

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