H-1BS

We all knew that Elon Musk would reveal himself. We all knew that Vivek Ramaswami would reveal himself. Did any of us believe that these multi-billionaires truly understood the core of the MAGA movement? They are being revealed through the H-1B visa issue. Musk and Ramaswami are all in for the use of and even the expansion of the program. Why wouldn’t they be? They are multi-billionaire entrepreneurs who rely on cheap labor in order to maximize their wealth. And they get that cheap labor through the H-1B visa program.

Elon Musk wrote a message on Friday to those who want to end the program: “F**k yourself in the face.” Which means that he doesn’t have a legitimate reason the keep the program because if he did, he would have articulated it. Ramaswami, at least, tried to justify the program, but all he did was insult America. He said, “Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer). That doesn’t start in college, it starts YOUNG… ‘Normalcy’ doesn’t cut it in a hyper-competitive global market for technical talent. And if we pretend like it does, we’ll have our asses handed to us by China.” 

These guys are not stupid. They didn’t become multi-billionaires because they’re stupid. They became multi-billionaires because they’re smart. They know how to buddy up with power in order to get what they want or what benefits them the most. They saw the tide turning towards the MAGA movement, so they quickly jumped on board, not because they believed in the MAGA movement, but to exploit the movement for their own agenda. And now they are being exposed because the MAGA movements opposition to H-1B visa program with prevent them getting what they want – which is as much wealth and power as possible.

They will lead you to believe that the United States of America is not producing enough engineers or tech workers for the white-collar jobs needed to be filled in the tech industry. Over 115,000 American citizens graduate each year with an engineering degree. The total number of science and engineering (S&E) degrees awarded in the United States grew from 520,474 in 2000 to 955,401 in 2018, an increase of 83 percent. Over 1,100 American citizens graduate from MIT every year. And even more American born citizens graduate from Stanford, Cal-Berkeley, UT-Austin and Georgia Tech’s science and engineering departments. So, to claim that there’s a shortage of qualified American citizens for the jobs in the tech world is simply not true.

They want the H-1B visa program because it allows them to bring in foreign workers and pay them 25% less than American born workers and not have to pay the payroll tax. They want the cheap labor. Ramaswami will claim that the foreign workers are better workers than the American workers. If that’s the case, would he be willing to pay more for those workers? Japanese born, Shohei Ohtani is a better baseball player than any American born player, and he gets paid the most money. If you’re better at something, you should get paid more. And if these companies are hiring foreign workers because they are better than America workers, they should be willing to pay them more, but they don’t. We know, the desire for H-1B workers would disappear if the labor costs were the same.

Make America Great Again does not mean firing very qualified American citizens and replacing them with cheaper foreign workers. That is not Make America Great Again. That is what leads to the decline of America. I’m not for banning all foreign workers. If there are white collar workers from foreign countries who are more skilled and more talented than the American workers and companies want to bring them in, I have no problem with that, as long as they are paid the same if not more than the American workers. That way, we’ll know that these people are truly being brought in based on talent and ability, and not because they are cheaper. 

This is no different than what happens with illegal immigration. We’re constantly told that the illegal immigrants do jobs that Americans don’t want to do. Not quite. They do the jobs that Americans don’t want to do for two dollars an hour. If Americans were paid a livable wage to do those jobs, Americans would do those jobs. So, the illegal immigrants come to California to pick the strawberries for two dollars an hour, and then they go to the government and sign up for welfare, food stamps and housing. So, the multinational corporation pays their workers two dollars an hour, and the government makes up the rest of their living expenses. The rich get richer and the taxpayers get screwed.

It all comes down to the owners wanting to pay as little as possible to their workforce, and willing to exploit people from foreign countries whose economies are so depressed that they come here because a raw deal in America is much better than any deal in their home country. This is not too dissimilar to what went on during the south in the 1800s with slavery. The plantation owners wanted to get their crops picked for as cheap as possible, so they purchased a bunch of slaves, put them up in a shack, forced them to pick the crops. The Democrats opened the southern border and allowed desperate immigrants to come and work for two bucks an hour. Big tech companies exploit the H-1B visa program so they can underpay their foreign workers and force them to work ungodly hours to maximize their profits. Whether it’s slavery, illegal immigration, or the H-1B visa program, it is the wealthy exploiting the workers in an unethical and immoral way to maximize their profits. Elon Musk may not be the richest man in the world if he had to pay all of his workers a legitimate American wage, but he’d still be in the top ten.

So yes, if there are foreign engineers or tech workers who are extremely talented who will greatly improve the productivity of your company, then you should use the H-1B visa program. But if you’re only using the program to bring in cheap labor, undercut wages, and displaced American workers, then you have no concept of what Make America Great Again means, you are just exploiting it, like you are exploiting the H-1B visa program. So, Elon, go take your own advice.

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Mr. Garrett is a graduate of Princeton University, and a former NFL player, coach, and executive. He has been a contributor to the website Real Clear Politics. He has recently published his first novel, No Wind.