When Bad People Do Good Things

I know that these actions are driven by a hatred of brown people, but the H-1B and L-1A programs are rife with abuse and serve to depress wages in the United States, so the recent actions by the Trump administration cracking down on the program leave me with mixed emotions.  (Archive.is link)

The Trump administration accused Microsoft Corp., Adobe Inc. and a half-dozen other companies of abusing a US worker visa program and suspended them indefinitely from a longstanding immigration initiative that’s served as a crucial talent pipeline for Silicon Valley and Wall Street.

The suspensions, announced Thursday by Vice President JD Vance and Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, also targeted information technology services giants Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Infosys Ltd. Tata, Wipro Ltd., HCL Technologies Ltd. and Capgemini SE. Those firms, either based in India or with large operations there, are often called outsourcers for their role offering contract IT work to other businesses.

At a briefing in Washington, Sonderling said there were multiple federal investigations under way into the use of a system that allows US employers to sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency. Vance singled out Microsoft, the world’s third most-valuable company, for what he characterized as exploitation of the program.

Yeah, right, the Trump administration is cracking down on corporate malfeasance.

And I'm the direct descendant of Genghis Khan and I am destined to rule the world. 

………

Silicon Valley’s reliance on foreign workers has long been a flashpoint in the debate over immigration. Since Trump’s return to office last year, the administration has seized on those concerns and pressed tech giants to do more to train and hire US workers.

As part of that effort, Trump has moved to make it harder for companies to use H-1B visas to attract foreign talent, targeting a major source of workers for the industry. The changes have included proposals for $100,000 filing fees for most candidates and tightening the rules of how the H-1B visas are awarded in an annual lottery, giving priority to companies offering the highest salaries.  

………

The moves announced by Vance and Sonderling take aim at the Permanent Labor Certification Program, or PERM, which allows companies to sponsor a foreigner who has been working the US under the H-1B and other visa holders to become a legal permanent resident, the first step to becoming a US citizen. 

This is really about keeping people like Usha Vance from becoming permanent residents. 

The H-1B program is a deeply flawed and deeply corrupt program, but the only members of our polity interested in addressing it are doing so for the basest of reasons.