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Will Trump Protect America's IT Workers From H-1B Visa Abuses? (cio.com.au) 400

Monday president-elect Donald Trump sent "the strongest signal yet that the H-1B visa program is going get real scrutiny once he takes office," according to CIO. Slashdot reader OverTheGeicoE summarizes their report: President-elect Donald Trump released a video message outlining his policy plans for his first 100 days in office. At 1 minute, 56 seconds into the message, he states that he will direct the Department of Labor to investigate "all abuses of the visa programs that undercut the American worker." During his presidential campaign, Trump was critical of the H-1B visa program that has been widely criticized for displacing U.S. high-technology workers. "Companies are importing low-wage workers on H-1B visas to take jobs from young college-trained Americans," said Trump at an Ohio rally. At other rallies, Trump invited former IT workers from Disney who had been forced to train their H-1B replacements to speak.
"What he didn't say was that he was going to close the door to skilled immigrants," one tech entrepreneur told CNN Money -- although Trump's selection for attorney general has called the shortage of qualified American tech workers "a hoax".
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Will Trump Protect America's IT Workers From H-1B Visa Abuses?

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  • Yes. No. Maybe. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by OzPeter ( 195038 ) on Sunday November 27, 2016 @11:38AM (#53371567)

    As with all things Trump, you'll never know until he does it. The best "advice" I saw was to ignore the mouth in front of the man.

    • Re:Yes. No. Maybe. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 ) on Sunday November 27, 2016 @01:24PM (#53372171)

      As with all things Trump, you'll never know until he does it. The best "advice" I saw was to ignore the mouth in front of the man.

      Even if he does roll a "DO" on his presidential dice-of-deciding, it doesn't mean the rest of the government will allow him to. There are plenty of congressmen and women on both sides of the aisle taking money from companies that profit from H1B abuse to block any attempts to reign them in.

      • Re:Yes. No. Maybe. (Score:5, Interesting)

        by LynnwoodRooster ( 966895 ) on Sunday November 27, 2016 @02:25PM (#53372511) Journal
        Absolutely. But I believe Trump will use the "bull pulpit" to greater effect than any President in recent ages. I believe he'd name names and level accusations of bribery against those who opposed him. Right or wrong. Those in Congress will not be able to hide behind closed doors and try to "work deals" to assuage their financiers. That alone will make the following 4 years at least entertaining, if not beneficial (shining the light on the way our Congress is bought-and-paid for by corporations AND unions).
        • Re:Yes. No. Maybe. (Score:5, Insightful)

          by murdocj ( 543661 ) on Sunday November 27, 2016 @03:13PM (#53372729)

          The bribery thing will cut both ways... and will cut trump far harder than anyone else, as he is unwilling to unlink himself from his business interests. Almost anything he does is going to have an angle that benefits him personally.

        • Re:Yes. No. Maybe. (Score:5, Insightful)

          by dywolf ( 2673597 ) on Sunday November 27, 2016 @03:55PM (#53372889)

          trump is actively engaging in corruption as we speak because somehow, someone forgot to make the conflict of interest law apply to POTUS.
          there's a repbulican majority in congress, and all they need to do to make him sign something is suck his dick a little bit.
          all he cares about is his himself.
          and agian with the union bullshit

      • by gtall ( 79522 )

        Yep, and the foreign workers in Trump's American properties aren't here on the H1B program, so he's safe.

    • Believe nothing a politician says during an election.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 27, 2016 @11:40AM (#53371581)

    Go to the transition website. Use the feature to submit an idea and tell them about H1B abuse. I did. Probably does nothing. Couldn't hurt. Tell them if your company is doing it. Name names and give numbers. I did. Probably does nothing. Couldn't hurt.

  • No (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 27, 2016 @11:47AM (#53371629)

    Look at who he is stocking his cabinet with... If you think he is going to do anything to protect workers, you drank too much of the koolaid.

    • Re:No (Score:5, Insightful)

      by smooth wombat ( 796938 ) on Sunday November 27, 2016 @11:50AM (#53371643) Journal

      Not to mention this is the same guy who claims he wants to bring jobs back to America but uses illegal foreign workers on his projects, buys Chinese steel rather than American steel and has his name brand products made in China and Mexico.

      He's already said he wants to get rid of safety and consumer-friendly regulations so why would anyone think he'd do anything to a program which is now used as an excuse to not hire American workers?

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Not to mention this is the same guy who claims he wants to bring jobs back to America but uses illegal foreign workers on his projects, buys Chinese steel rather than American steel and has his name brand products made in China and Mexico.

        Maybe, but you know what? Trump actually spoke directly to the beaten down American worker. He acknowledged his pain and suffering and promised to help him recover. Even if the promise is not kept, he at least claimed that he would fight for the American worker and love him or hate him Trump has a reputation for getting shit done. Compare that to Hillary Clinton, who basically ignored the American worker or at least the white working poor (ex middle class) worker in the rust belt and coal states. Hillary Cl

        • Re:No (Score:5, Insightful)

          by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Sunday November 27, 2016 @12:36PM (#53371921) Homepage Journal

          Maybe, but you know what? Trump actually spoke directly to the beaten down American worker.

          He spoke more clearly and convincingly to those who actually have money. We know this because the median yearly income of Trump voters was $10,000 higher than that of Clinton voters. It's not Trump's message to the working man that got him elected. It's his appeal to the rich. If he gets his way, wave goodbye to the estate tax, and say hello to tax cuts for the already-rich at the expense of the working class.

          Now I ask you, if you were a blue collar high school educated white man struggling to feed a family and hold onto the home by your fingernails, who would you have voted for?

          I would have voted for Sanders in the primary, and when he didn't become the candidate, I would have stayed home. That's what the statistics show happened more often than not, anyway.

          The blue collar high school educated man may be ignorant, but he's not stupid.

          Right. That's why the idea that he voted for Trump is a myth.

          • Do you really think all those rural Obama voters in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan were thinking about the estate tax when they voted for Trump? I don't know what they were thinking, but it's a real stretch to claim they're wealthy enough to care about things like the estate tax.

            You may not like it or understand why anyone would have voted for him, but this is how the election came out. A group of working class people felt overlooked and were very motivated to show up and vote for Trump in p

            • Some traditional "country club" Republican strongholds, like Orange County California, voted for Clinton.

              The California GOP has more in common with the endangered spotted owl than 1/10th of the U.S. population. The city of Santa Ana in Orange County is 78% Latino. They voted for Clinton.

              http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/12/us/california-latino-voters.html?_r=0 [nytimes.com]

              • While the growth of those neighborhoods definitely effects politics, it's not even close to the whole story. How about the local newspaper [ocregister.com]. Note that the local Democratic stronghold is the University neighborhood (which is maybe better for everyone than identity politics).

                This is the first time since 1936 that OC went blue. In a place with ~200,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats, Clinton won by almost 100,000 votes, with another ~64k votes going to 3rd party (or no one), with a very high turnou

            • It's not Trump's message to the working man that got him elected. It's his appeal to the rich. If he gets his way, wave goodbye to the estate tax, and say hello to tax cuts for the already-rich at the expense of the working class.

              Do you really think all those rural Obama voters in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan were thinking about the estate tax when they voted for Trump? I don't know what they were thinking, but it's a real stretch to claim they're wealthy enough to care about things like the estate tax.

              Primarily, I think you've got several screws loose. I think the rich voted for Trump because of things like the estate tax, which is what I actually said. Now, I do think that the rural Obama voters who voted for Trump were thinking that Trump would help them with jobs, but I also think they were not the primary force in electing Trump.

              You may not like it or understand why anyone would have voted for him,

              No, I understand precisely why people voted for him. People with money voted for him on the premise that they could keep more of it. People without money who are also stupid

              • Primarily, I think you've got several screws loose. I think the rich voted for Trump because of things like the estate tax...

                This implies that rich and upper-middleclass people are stupid. 90% of Americans have a net worth < $1 million. 99.5% have a net worth < $11.8 Million. [dqydj.com] Under current tax law, you only pay federal estate taxes on the part of your net worth that exceeds $10.9 Million for 2016, which is automatically adjusted for inflation. That < 1% of the population obviously couldn't have elected trump on their own, so the rest of the rich and semi-rich who voted for him must either be stupid or naively optimistic

        • Re:No (Score:4, Insightful)

          by smooth wombat ( 796938 ) on Sunday November 27, 2016 @12:37PM (#53371929) Journal
          a blue collar high school educated white man

          And there it is. It's the uneducated angry white guy who voted the con-artist into office because they were too stupid to think for themselves, not to mention the white supremacists.

          These people swallowed every lie fed to them, hook, line and sinker, because, as is repeatedly mentioned on here, they didn't adapt to the changing work environment. Instead of realizing coal would never be king again and looking to other job opportunities such as wind or solar power, like the farrier and blacksmith of yore they clung desperately to the past. They fought tooth and nail every renewable energy project which might have provided them with good paying, sustainable jobs because they were too stupid to look beyond their back door.

          Tell me, in four years when absolutely nothing has changed, who are these people going to blame? I can guarantee their stupidity will be on full display when they place blame everywhere else (liberals, socialists, blacks, hispanics, etc) rather than on Trump who made grand promises which he had no way and no intention of every keeping.

          Trump is a showman like Lyle Lanley who promised Springfield the world if they built a monorail [wikipedia.org], except in the end, Trump will still pocket millions because of his conflicts of interest while the coal miners will be no further along and still just a bunch of angry white men.
        • Trump actually spoke directly to the beaten down American worker. He acknowledged his pain and suffering and promised to help him recover.

          "I feel your pain". - William Jefferson Clinton.

          Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

      • by Imrik ( 148191 )

        I find that no worse than the minimum wage advocates that pay less than they are advocating for. If he alone changes his hiring and business practices it will just hurt his business to the point where it's a net negative. If his competitors are also forced to make the same changes, they won't get an advantage over him and America will be better off for it.

      • by gtall ( 79522 )

        Give the guy a break, he says he'll have the Mexicans pay for the wall. So, they'd be paying Americans American wages to build a wall to keep their people from leaving...or is it from coming back seeing as net migration is now from the U.S. to Mexico. Hmm...oh, wait, he's now saying he doesn't need a wall, a mere fence will keep those hordes of Mexicans from working in his hotels...errr...stealing American jobs.

  • by rmdingler ( 1955220 ) on Sunday November 27, 2016 @11:58AM (#53371691) Journal
    When I read that title, I hear it inside my head as:

    Despite the things you expect him to fuck up, he will probably do some beneficial things, too... with an eye towards beneficial is in the eye of the beholder.

    Geeesh! Are there no wives tales left? [snopes.com]

  • No (Score:2, Insightful)

    It seems that he is turning into a politician really fast. By February, they will have him reeled in.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 27, 2016 @12:05PM (#53371721)

    The most common usage I see in Seattle is through contracting firms. Usually Indian 'mom and pop' ones that already have their green card running several H1B 'spots'. If you are an immigrant, you pay in to them for the opportunity to be hired for a job through their company. So you get to live in the US and go on interviews till someone hires you, then you pay that time off by getting shit pay while they charge 5 or 6 times more than they pay you. Consulting and contract companies should never be allocated H1B.

  • by JoeyRox ( 2711699 ) on Sunday November 27, 2016 @12:18PM (#53371791)
    Hard to say for sure since Trump himself probably doesn't know but I found this quote interesting:

    "Bruce Josten, the chief lobbyist at the United States Chamber of Commerce, said he had already been in communication with members of Mr. Trump's transition team, as the chamber pushes its priorities like securing approval for the Keystone Pipeline, the oil pipeline project blocked by the Obama administration, or reopening more federal lands to oil and gas exploration."
    ...
    "The chamber already knows there are certain items Mr. Trump has said he will not support, like the current versions of trade deals with Asia or comprehensive changes in the nation's immigration laws, which the chamber pushed during Mr. Obama's tenure. But there are aspects of each of these plans, like increasing the number of visas for highly skilled foreign workers, that Mr. Josten said he expects Mr. Trump to endorse.

    Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/us/politics/lobbyists-trump.html [nytimes.com]
  • by Antique Geekmeister ( 740220 ) on Sunday November 27, 2016 @12:19PM (#53371801)

    The H1B visa workers help foster profits for the top mangers of the companies that employ them. Donald Trump's policies are _all_ aimed at putting power and money in the hands of the wealthy. It should be trivial, as the president and with a Rep8ublican congress, to "reduce H1B visas" for his supporting voters but leave in large loopholes to protect their broad corporate use.

    • It should be trivial, as the president and with a Rep8ublican congress, to "reduce H1B visas" for his supporting voters but leave in large loopholes to protect their broad corporate use.

      Like the L1 visa?

      I have never understood why, with all the hate for H1 visas, the L1 visa category has not come under more scrutiny.

      • that's all. H1-B is the most abused. It's the one they use to replace entry level jobs with. It's also the easiest to attack since the abuses are so obvious.
      • The L1 visas are _for_ the top managers. They allow international companies with personnel like Donald Trump himself to move to, live in, and be paid in whatever nation is to their personal and professional benefit.

        • The L1 visas are _for_ the top managers.

          Wrong:

          The L-1 visa facilitates the temporary transfer of foreign worker in the managerial, executive or specialized knowledge category to the U.S. to continue employment with an office of the same employer, its parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate.

          "Specialized knowledge" isn't that restrictive. Also, people like Donald Trump can buy themselves a visa through the "E" visa class.

  • "Will Trump Protect America's IT Workers From H-1B Visa Abuses?"

    No.

    Next "story", please....

  • by BlueCoder ( 223005 ) on Sunday November 27, 2016 @12:52PM (#53372019)

    I didn't vote for him but I have to wonder... what if he does a good job? What if he was actually able to do better than previous presidents?

    I think the man is very vain. He is 70 years old. But a righteous legacy would be something he might sell his soul for.

    He does know business and money. But it's real estate. Which means construction and turnover. Other rich don't necessarily like him because he doesn't care about keeping them rich. He is anti PAC. He has committed that his own cabinet won't be able to turn around and take insider jobs at companies. He is politically and financially not a friend to the rich.

    I compare him to Nixon whom was also both very smart and naive about certain things. While Reagan wanted to outspend Russia in the cold war. Nixon wanted to steer China toward a liberal Fascism by marrying them to money and markets. (Kind of similar to how old kingdoms would arrange marriage [hostages] and guests so that there were personal ties of interest to both.) But China isn't spending western money. It's more like they are trying to bankrupt western nations.

    Back on topic: Trump seems to support a more protectionist economy with an eye at least toward balancing trade. So it makes sense for him to be anti loop hole H1B. EVERYONE knows it's about cheaper tech workers to keep down tech salaries. I can only wish he would audit American companies and well known brands and show how they cheated the system and for how much. But he will use that instead as bargaining power; maybe shame a couple known companies in the beginning.

    I think shamming companies on public TV will be a major theme for him. He does understand the PR game and how that would affect their stock prices in the short run. I expect an across the board minimum tax for businesses at least in the low double digits with phase ins and tax breaks for those that move/build facilities for manufacturing here. So there will definitely be a boom in construction and real estate which is generally good for the middle class.

    • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Sunday November 27, 2016 @01:25PM (#53372185)
      that the grifter who's been cheating people for 70s years and who doesn't pay his contractors is gonna keep on doing what he's been doing.

      But it's a moot point anyway. His cabinet picks alone are all other completely corrupt, completely incompetent or both. Whatever he wants to do doesn't matter. The important decisions will be made for him to the benefit of the 1% and the detriment of the rest of us.
  • and he took $900k in cash from a guy that runs one of the biggest H1-B farms in America during his campaign. So I'm guessing that would be a 'no'.

    Trump is walking back every promise he's made except the ones that are give aways to the 1%ers. What scares me most is thinking whats going to happen in year 3 when his approval ratings are single digits and he's up for reelection. War. War's gonna happen. A nasty war with some nation we're sure we can win against.
  • They're looking at it, that it's very important, really important - and he can't believe what his people are finding. But in the end he'll let businesses do whatever they want.

  • A more humane approach to foreign trade issues across the board (both labor trade and trade of goods) would be to require equality of labor pay. In the past, we didn't have the big data skills to make this practical. I think we now do.

    Basically, if you offshore labor, import labor, or import goods, simply require that the workers involved in providing the labor or creating the goods (at all levels of the vertical chain required to create the goods, i.e. all the way down to the raw material mining) get at le

  • The H1B visa program is an excellent choice as a bell weather of what a Trump administration can be expected to do for the average person. Around tax time next year (April 15th) is about 90 days in office. Set a reminder folks. "April 15th. Look around and see what the H1B visa abuse situation is. TRUMP Promise."

    Will he keep it or will he break it? I don't know. I have my thoughts but I will have them settled one way or the other by May.

  • https://www.dol.gov/whd/immigr... [dol.gov]

    This should be very easy to prove because US workers are being REPLACED by H1 workers. US workers are training H1 to take thier jobs so they are clearly being used as cheap replacement workers not what H1 was designed to do.
  • While the Midwest isn't typically impacted as hard by H-1B activity. I'd certainly like to see the President overhaul the whole program and tighten it way down. I don't need it to go away, what I would like to see is for H-1B to be MORE EXPENSIVE than training someone locally. It should be an expensive option that you use when you don't have time to build the skill set locally.

    However, I am from Missouri. You really have to Show Me, for me to believe.

  • Putting the Trump factor to one side for a minute there is a simple option that we use here in New Zealand, minimum pay.

    To be eligible to work in NZ as a skilled worker your pay must be typical for a person in the industry, or you work visa will no be renewed. It stops employers importing staff for economic reasons. It is not easy to get a work visa for NZ, so employers only go down that path when there is a genuine shortage of local candidates. While it may be possible to game the system I doubt it h
  • by DarthVain ( 724186 ) on Monday November 28, 2016 @11:41AM (#53377761)

    Trump will do what is in his best interests. In this case I believe he will almost certainly follow up on his claim to "fix" the H1b abuses. Why?

    4 Reasons:
    1) It literally has zero negative impact on his own business holdings
    2) He ran (and won) on bringing American jobs back
    3) If he wants to win those "Blue" states on re-election like California this is the way to do it. Same idea except white collar VS blue
    4) It give the middle finger to all those IT CEO's that bad mouthed him in the past election

    Seem pretty straight forward to me. As for other republicans trying to block him, I don't think it will work, as some other had mentioned, he pretty much got elected without a lot of republican support to begin with and I don't think he would even blink before throwing a few republic opponents under the bus and fast if only as simply a statement of who is boss...

    As to how fair or draconian the actual policy will be or even how effective it is remains to be scene...

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