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.