US halts all immigrant visa applications amid tightening restrictions | Hacker News Reader

US halts all immigrant visa applications amid tightening restrictions

theguardian.com

16 pointsandsoitis20 comments

There is a big asylum visa problem.

From: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8r56vr40jvo

US data collected by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows Indian asylum requests in the US have skyrocketed.

The requests jumped tenfold in just two years, rising from about 5,000 in 2021 to over 51,000 in 2023.

Is this why they stopped spousal visa applications for the first time in US history?

Immigrants have made America stronger than any other country. It has made a culture that is uniquely adaptable and universal.

Let's not fuck it up.

I don’t think it’s arguably good for the United States to be strong, based on all available evidence. America attracted immigrants who want a better life, and exploits most of its immigrant labor. Is it better if immigrants remain out of country while America self immolates, loses its “exorbitant privilege” of dollar reserve status, and global living standards rise from clean tech exports from China? I argue yes, they are safer outside than in.

America wants immigrants as fuel for capitalism, profits for shareholders (top 10% by wealth own 93% of equities), and taxpayers to help cover $1T in annual interest expense on $40T in sovereign debt (although only the top 40% have a federal income tax liability; the bottom 60% can barely survive on their income). We also spend trillions of dollars and countless lives on meaningless conflicts, although this primarily impacts those who have unfortunately decided to participate in some capacity in the US military and adjacent civilian casualties.

I am not anti immigrant. I am anti exploitation. And the United States is an exploitation machine. Stand clear as the machine starts to seize up. This is what the country voted for, after all.

> America attracted immigrants who want a better life, and exploits most of its immigrant labor.

Can you tell us more?

I ask because I’m and immigrant. I know many many immigrants. And I don’t know a single one who feels “exploited by the US”. The opposite.

20% of S&P 500 companies are run by immigrant CEOs. That number rises to 60% if you take just the top 10 companies.

> 20% of S&P 500 companies are run by immigrant CEOs. That number rises to 60% if you take just the top 10 companies.

These people are interchangeable cogs and not material to the discussion. If these 100 people were gone tomorrow, they'd be replaced by an executive search firm and every company would go on as is. As of this comment, there are approximately 200,000 to 206,000 people working as chief executive officers in formal registered corporations across the United States. Help yourself to an alternate cog, if needed, from the bin.

Kaplan, Steven Neil and Sorensen, Morten, Are CEOs Different? (July 1, 2020). Columbia Business School Research Paper No. 16-27, Paris December 2016 Finance Meeting EUROFIDAI - AFFI, Journal of Finance, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2747691 or https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2747691

Study: CEO effect on firm performance could be mostly due to chance - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10441713 - October 2015 (67 comments)

You claimed America exploits immigrants. I present evidence of high rate of immigrant CEOs, which contradicts your claim.

I’m also telling you that I and all the other immigrants I know don’t feel exploited, but in fact the opposite.

So I don’t know why you think America exploits immigrants.

Do you believe immigrant CEOs are the same as the millions of immigrants being paid poverty wages? I’m unsure how to have a rational discussion if you believe a few hundred or so (at best) lucky folks are the same as millions who are not. Immigrant CEOs are a rounding error, they do not matter one bit in this context.

Immigrants choose to move here because it provides more opportunity. What you call "exploitation" is a massive improvement for many.

Humans make suboptimal choices often, the evidence is clear (out of emotion vs logic and critical thinking, out of lack of information, etc). I have no issues with policy that keeps them out, for their own safety, and I hope that the economic situation continues to improve outside of the US globally to make the decision trivial to not attempt to immigrate. And so, I do not take issue with this administration destroying pipelines supporting immigration. They do it out of racism, I support it out of compassion and empathy. Do not come, it is not safe. Sometimes you will be lucky, "opportunity," but luck is not a strategy, nor does the evidence show immigrants are lucky at scale (imho).

The rest of the world will only continue to improve as the US declines. Fertility rates are rapidly declining globally (71% of the global population lives in countries below replacement rate, as of this comment), which will lead to less economic migration over time. I accept we will disagree on this topic, from different mental models and lived experiences. If one is a capitalist or a neoliberal, I agree no shared ground is to be found. I have too much empathy to be either. Fundamentally, this is vulnerability management applied to economic migration and time window exposure to the experience of living in the US as a human, and alternatives to that path.

https://cmsny.org/importance-of-immigrant-labor-to-us-econom...

https://workrisenetwork.org/feature/immigrants-low-wage-work...

> Immigrants frequently step into physically demanding, labor-intensive, or low-wage essential jobs that face persistent shortages of native-born workers.

> Low-wage immigrant workers are an essential part of the US economy. Most of these workers have been in the US for decades and make up a large share of the workforce in key occupations. Abrupt changes to immigration policy and the escalation of enforcement strategies have affected workers, their families, employers, and communities, creating a climate of fear for people across the country. Despite these rising threats and violations of rights, immigrants continue to show up for work and contribute.

There is no labor shortage, only a shortage of workers willing to work at poverty or below wages. If the job is essential, pay a living wage. If the job is dangerous, reduce the danger and supplement with automation. But for this to occur, labor supply must be constrained, which we are in the process of doing. Stealing the turn of phrase, "Starve the beast." We should not be thankful for these workers, we should be ashamed we import them and treat them as a permanent underclass. But I don't see much shame, so you have to beat on the system harder until it reaches failure. The US generates roughly $5T/year in profits, most of which goes to the top 10%. It can afford a bit more humanity, even if forced to do so.

Terra Incognita: The Economics of a Shrinking World [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49352811 - August 2026

The demographic future of humanity: facts and consequences [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44866621 - August 2025 (400 comments)

The Great Demographic Reversal: Ageing Societies, Waning Inequality, and an Inflation Revival - https://www.suerf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/f_fa99ccdbe... - SUERF Policy Note, Issue No 197, October 2020

(consider this in concert with US unemployment and underemployment, showing we have a surplus of domestic US citizen labor today)

Nearly 25% of U.S. workers are "functionally unemployed," economic analysis finds - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/functional-unemployment-us-labo... - August 24th, 2026

CBS News: What is "functional unemployment" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y2gKIGFTns - August 25th, 2026

Most Americans don't earn enough to afford basic costs of living, analysis finds - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44119317 - May 2025 (Report: https://www.lisep.org/mql)

There is nothing wrong with allowing a equilibrium price to be established across borders. Customers get cheaper prices and workers better pay and better QoL than in their home country. It's a win-win.

Making life better elsewhere often happens through remittance or people who acquired skills elsewhere moving back. However, often prospering isn't happening due to systemic issues that an individual cannot change.

If you don't believe that their life is in fact better you can try to convince them. But if you somehow think you are in a position where you should be making life choices for others we have fundamentally different values.

Capitalism, Ho!

I don't need to convince anyone, anti-immigrant political sentiment just needs to remain high in the US for this to happen. Is this likely to happen? I think so, and this admin has at least another two and a half years in office while this impairs businesses requiring this exploited labor far into the future. Businesses will go without this labor, or hire workers in the US today, which will be somewhat sticky for some time. Good luck to the capitalists and attempting to pull these trajectories back towards what they want, it'll take years, if not longer.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/us/trump-tps-labor-shorta... | https://archive.today/cVIP1

https://cis.org/Academic-Articles/Employment-Effects-Immigra...

> If you don't believe that their life is in fact better you can try to convince them. But if you somehow think you are in a position where you should be making life choices for others we have fundamentally different values.

US citizens get a vote, potential immigrants or those not legally in the US do not. I completely understand immigrants might feel differently on this. Everyone is entitled to their feelings, but not everyone gets a vote. Foreign born US residents make up ~15% of the US population (somewhat stale and likely does not account for recent departures, both voluntary and not). If someone feels entitled to access to the US in some capacity, economically or otherwise, that's unfortunate and not congruent with current policy (again, which will last at least another two and a half years).

We have different values, that's all, with all due respect, compassion, and sympathy towards another human.

https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48940

https://cis.org/Report/ForeignBorn-Number-and-Share-US-Popul...

I'm not arguing that the US doesn't have the right to decide who moves here. I'm arguing that deciding what's best for others is a huge philosophical and ethical trap.

Godspeed I suppose.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/you-or-someone-you-love-c...

I fear that the US is burning through the most valuable resource of them all, Trust.

We have long since burned through Trust.

We are now burning the second-most valuable resource, Inertia. It takes a long time to unwind a relationship, even when Trust is gone.

In fact, the lack of Trust makes it take even longer. And a lot of people still have that third-most valuable asset (Hope) that Trust can be re-built before Inertia runs out. Which also adds to the Inertia.

Still, Inertia is finite. It will take a decade or more to really use it all up, but it's going fast. And probably accelerating: once you've discovered that Inertia isn't all it's cracked up to be, you can set about finding new people to Trust, in earnest.

A really bad way to enter a country with the intention of staying is to come as a visitor/guest and then claim asylum. They are lying their way in and in my opinion not a good start to trying to stay and become a citizen in some day.

Are we a land of laws or not?

Just in case you’re having trouble keeping up, since it moves fast, this is a different ban. The asylum seeker ban happened earlier this week per the article.

We haven't been, and whether you think it's the chicken or the egg, immigration lawyers specializing in H1-B and related visas have made a mockery of the law and of the stated intent of those visas.

If you read the letter of the law it's perfectly reasonable. And when highly credentialed specialists who are truly unique talents get visas to work here, the results are beneficial to everyone.

But as a result of intensive lawyering, thousands of mid engineers get mid jobs at mid pay and are exploited like indentured servants.

If the letter of the visa laws was actually enforced, we would not have this problem. To which the lawyers will say we're just doing our jobs and doing it well.

calling this country a land of laws is a joke at best. people calling themselves our leaders, supposedly servants of the people, have been committing heinous act here and elsewhere. this is not a land of laws. this is a failed experiment in exercise of government authority and the peoples time to wake tf up and claim autonomy over self at any price.

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