Rep. Jim Banks Introduces Legislation to Curtail Nefarious H-1B Program Used by Big Tech to Replace American Workers

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Dec 9, 2021

New legislation introduced by Republican Study Caucus Chair Jim Banks cracks down on Big Tech’s abusive use of the nefarious H-1B migrant visa program, introducing new safeguards against a tool Big Tech oligarchs have used to undercut and replace American workers with cheaper and more compliant foreign replacements for decades.

Banks, a member from Indiana, introduced the legislation Wednesday. The American Tech Workforce Act of 2021 places a cap on the starting wages of H-1B visa workers equal to that which American workers earn in similar positions, or $110,000- whichever is higher. Big Tech companies such as Facebook and Apple love the H-1B program because its workers are dependent on their employers for the continuing status of their immigration visa, providing a form of labor similar to indentured servitude.

The law would prevent Big Tech from hiring H-1B workers at starting wages far below those which American workers expect. The law also ends the Optional Practical Training program, an immigration provision that enables foreign students to remain in the United States after their education, taking up jobs that American college graduates could otherwise fill at far cheaper prices.

“Big Tech is setting aside some of the most lucrative and valuable career opportunities in America, and giving them exclusively to foreign guest workers,” Banks said of his legislation in a statement. “They’re cutting Americans out to save a few bucks. It’s domestic outsourcing. This shocking disregard for American workers and their role in our nation’s future is unpatriotic. We must fix Big Tech’s incentives so they begin putting Americans first.”

The law also prevents Big Tech companies from working with job-killing “chop shops” that funnel and arrange for the insertion of indentured H-1B migrant workers in positions otherwise open to Americans.

The law’s provisions are similar to regulatory guidelines the Trump administration implemented during the former President’s term, codifying the reforms of the abusive program to ensure a Democrat President can’t merely sweep them away in a favor to Big Tech oligarchs.

With major corporations continuing to refuse to raise wages and train American workers in the midst of what they say is a “labor shortage,” it’s clear that the wealthiest tech oligarchs will resort to any means but train and employ Americans who might’ve been separated from the traditional workforce. Facebook has been held liable for mass-scale discrimination against American workers in favor of foreign replacements, with the Department of Justice holding the company liable for $14 million owed to workers it discriminated against.

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