On Tuesday, The American Thinker posted an article about the Executive Order by President Trump to impose a $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visas. This is a step toward protecting American workers. Originally the H-1B visa was intended to help U.S. companies fill rare, high-skilled roles when American expertise was unavailable. Instead, it has become a way for corporations to import cheap labor rather than pay |Americans fair wages.
The article reports:
President Donald Trump’s two recent executive orders, one imposing a $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visas and the other launching the “Gold Card” fast-track residency program, represent the most significant immigration reforms in decades.
They flip the incentive structure that has for years favored multinational corporations and global outsourcing firms over American workers, while also tackling long-ignored national security risks.
As a policy, open borders is one area where Democrats and many Republicans agree. Democrats want new voters, while the Chamber of Commerce and Wall Street Journal Republicans want cheap labor. President George W. Bush, backed by Senator John McCain, in 2007, pushed for “comprehensive immigration reform,” a euphemism for amnesty, for millions of illegal aliens, which fortunately failed a US Senate vote.
Enter President Trump, the only president in my lifetime who has recognized that America has a sovereign border. Even President Reagan failed to repair our dysfunctional immigration system. He signed an amnesty bill into law, which NPR heralded as “a Reagan legacy,” and it unsurprisingly turned California from a red to a blue state. No wonder NPR loved it.
The Chamber of Commerce is no longer a friend of the American worker. They support corporate profit margins over American workers. They were also supporters of the Common Core curriculum that has helped lower the test scores of American students.
The article notes:
This approach addresses two issues simultaneously. First, it monetizes efficiency by having applicants pay for expedited processing instead of taxpayers funding an overcrowded immigration system. Second, it makes sure that those who skip ahead are likely to be job creators and investors, not liabilities. As CBS News reported, Trump explained: “We’re going to have great people coming in, and they’re going to be paying.”
Such programs are common. Portugal offers a Golden Visa program that requires a five-year investment in monetary assets for residency, which is less direct and efficient compared to Trump’s proposal.
For conservatives cautious about unrestricted immigration, this presents a strong bargain: America gains capital instead of bearing costs.
Unsurprisingly, Big Tech is unhappy. Venture capitalists argue that the $100,000 H-1B fee could hurt America’s competitiveness, but this overlooks how the current system has suppressed domestic innovation by discouraging Americans from pursuing STEM careers. Genuine innovation thrives when American students and workers believe they can compete fairly.
Foreign governments have also expressed concern, especially India, which depends heavily on exporting workers to the U.S.
Not everyone in America wants to ‘put America first.’
