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Trump Targets the Abuse of H-1B Visas 492

Posted by samzenpus from the you're-fired dept.
An anonymous reader writes: As part of Trump's comprehensive immigration overhaul, his plan not only addresses immigrants who enter or stay in the country illegally, but also the H-1B visa program and its well-documented abuses. Parts of the proposal include requirements to offer positions to U.S. STEM graduates and effectively requiring a minimum wage for hiring out of the country that would make it prohibitive to do so.
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Trump Targets the Abuse of H-1B Visas More

Trump Targets the Abuse of H-1B Visas

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  • Amazing (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @07:30AM (#50337743)
    I might actually vote for him because of this policy. Never thought I would say that.

    • Re:Amazing (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @07:42AM (#50337783)

      Of course you might. There's nothing like America for single-issue voting.

      "Well, yeah, he's a complete idiot, and he'll plunge our country into a new depression, and half the population will starve to death, and the other half will eat them to stay alive, but there might be a few more jobs for American tech workers at the end of it!"

      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Overreact much?

      • The policies of the last couple of decades have insured a depression is on it's way in the next couple of years anyway.

      • Re:Amazing (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Nyder ( 754090 ) on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @09:22AM (#50338383) Journal

        Of course you might. There's nothing like America for single-issue voting.

        "Well, yeah, he's a complete idiot, and he'll plunge our country into a new depression, and half the population will starve to death, and the other half will eat them to stay alive, but there might be a few more jobs for American tech workers at the end of it!"

        Actually Trump wouldn't hurt the country that much. Most laws he will try to pass probably will get vetoed by Congress or the Senate (forget who vetoes who) and when they try to pass laws, he's veto them because that is the sort of asshole he is.

        And unlike how Obama lets congress do whatever, we'd have high comedy when Trump talks smack about them all the time.

        • Re:Amazing (Score:5, Insightful)

          by MightyMartian ( 840721 ) on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @09:35AM (#50338527) Journal

          And that's the real issue. Trump makes a lot of claims and promises that would require Congress to cooperate, and looking at how Trump scores on the whole "get along with other people" index, it suggests that his Presidency, rather than being some great revolutionary change, would be four very long years of him shouting crude abuses at Congressional leadership.

        • Re:Amazing (Score:5, Funny)

          by fey000 ( 1374173 ) on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @09:47AM (#50338647)

          And unlike how Obama lets congress do whatever, we'd have high comedy when Trump talks smack about them all the time.

          This is true. No other president would be half as fun as Trump.

          There may be a few nukes and world wars along the way, but the White House would be funnier than American Dad. Hell, I'm off to buy a year's supply of popcorn now.

      • Re:Amazing (Score:4, Insightful)

        by GargamelSpaceman ( 992546 ) on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @09:43AM (#50338607) Homepage Journal

        He says all the time he need flexibility to do deals.

        This amounts to 'trust me' which where politicians are concerned, doesn't generally work out well. This is the worst thing about Trump IMO.

        For instance, he was pro-choice a few years ago, and now he's pro-life because he wants the GOP nomination. Once he supported single payer healthcare, now he doesn't because he wants the GOP nomination. From my point of view I wish he'd never changed his positions. This says to me, these issues aren't very important to him. Or maybe they are and he's just making a deal.

        Also, the birther thing, he de-emphasizes now seems to paint him as an idiot, but it may have appealed to more people than it put off. Was it ever important to him, or just a way of getting attention. Also, consider that appearing dumb enough to do stupid things might help him in negotiations by giving him flexibility. If you appear too rational, it can be a weakness because it allows others to predict your moves. Computers still don't dominate poker.

        The wall seems dumb at first. And getting Mexico to pay for it, just stupid, but I don't think he really wants a wall. He wants to use it to browbeat others. The pressure he will apply to get the wall built is an anti-nafta agenda with impounding of remittances, which if Trump has any brains ( which he probably does but hides well ) is what he really wants. I don't think he really wants to get the wall easily.

        Making E-verify mandatory and penalties for violations by employers certain and severe will do more to deter illegal immigration than any wall ever could, which Trump says he wants to do.

        His bluster about his willingness to send troops to the Middle East could easily be a bargaining chip he intends to cash in for a better deal. Would more military adventures in the Middle East be a bad idea? Yes. But then he may not actually want them.

        The list goes on. but while you could imagine a rational Trump that is bluffing, you don't ever know that for sure. People like to see themselves in others when it's not really there. The thing he's saying to the American Public is 'Trust me.'.

        And is your favorite Trump position core, to his agenda or something to be cashed in? Or maybe everything actually might be cashed in in some possible deal but the whole agenda is genuine.

        That might be what Trump is trying to do by running. The right and left are moving further apart and alienating more and more people opening the way for a populist centrist candidate to take both right and left positions to synthesize a new deal.

        As for the H1B thing, he'll get the internet on his side with that one. Too bad it keeps an upper level 'maximum wage' , just raising it ( which will be undone by inflation eventually ) rather than just eliminating H1B.

        Still, it's something.

        The two populist candidates are Bernie Sanders and Trump.

        Bernie Sanders won't have the money to beat Trump.

        If Hillary gets the nomination, how many populist Bernie Sanders supporters will go to Hillary and how many will become Trump supporters when he shifts to the left in the general election ( which he will ).

        Will Armerica stand for another non-populist president given how alienated they feel by the bought and paid for right and left?

        And like it or not, America is becoming more National Socialist. America is not racist or anti-semetic, but they want some moderate socialism and realize that socialism isn't feasible without border control ( the nationalism ) or else you get a race to the bottom as people flood in from everywhere. You can't heat the great outdoors.

        And being nationalist and socialist doesn't make you a hater and certainly doesn't make you Hitler. -- Hitler was a bad guy.

        Being moderately socialist doesn't make you a commie, it just means you're not a Rothbardian Libertarian Ayn Rand worshipper. It makes you normal.

        Being nationalist, doesn't make you racist if you define nation geographically and include all c

      • Personally I won't vote for him because of his comments about Snowden.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Trump is going to be good for one thing: getting the Republicans to have a real debate on immigration. This is probably a good thing for them in the long run, and they've been trying to have it both ways for a while, being the party of free trade but ignoring trade in labor, but it'll get ugly for a while and there's a small risk that it could get ugly for a long while (like if the jerk is elected).

      I understand Trump's platform includes changes to the 14th amendment so that you're not a citizen when you'r

      • Not the symptom or its manifestation.

        The fundamental problem is that few US citizens are motivated to attain high levels of education, and to earn their wages / wealth by contributing to society, rather than living off subsidies doled out by the guvment.

        A related problem is the high debts incurred in the process of getting educated, thereby creating wage slaves.

        Another less fundamental problem is that the dollar is artificially high, and kept there by vested interests. If the market value of the dollar refl

        • Your second sentence: source, please?

          The high debts incurred is not "a related problem" but rather the cause for "few US citizens...motivated to attain high levels of education."

          Also, "If the market value of the dollar reflects its true worth.." leads you to a false "then" statement. By definition, the market value of the dollar does reflect its worth. And as long as USD are backed by reliable, stable economic fiat, that will continue. Of course, if you try to shut down the government via silly grandstandin

        • Not the symptom or its manifestation.

          The fundamental problem is that few US citizens are motivated to attain high levels of education, and to earn their wages / wealth by contributing to society, rather than living off subsidies doled out by the guvment.

          What are you kidding? Or is this Bill Gates? This is a lie. 65.9 percent of high school graduates enroll in college for the next semester. That is almost 2/3, which is a pretty astonishingly high number. And that number is down from previous years.
          The REAL problem is that there are millions of unemployed college educated workers out there who can't get a job because companies have hired H1b at lower wages to do the job instead.

      • "Trump is going to be good for one thing: getting the Republicans to have a real debate on immigration." - people like this do not create a real debate, they just create division and give the racist and xenophobes a platform to voice their distasteful opinions. You cannot have a real debate with these types of people.

    • I might actually vote for him because of this policy. Never thought I would say that.

      You'd cut off your balls for a wart on your pecker.

    • I might actually vote for him because of this policy. Never thought I would say that.

      I'd be inclined to see whether his various business ventures have exhibited this sort of hiring policy; or whether he's a "Buy American!" sort of guy when looking for votes; and a buy Mexican sort of guy when looking for labor...

      His willingness to play the overt nativist is useful in that it may help force the Republicans to quit equivocating on whether they feel like serving their plutocratic wing's enthusiasm for cheap labor or their working class wing's desire to not be reduced to squalor and/or surro

      • Blind squirrel finding an acorn (Score:5, Insightful)

        by sjbe ( 173966 ) on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @08:18AM (#50337961)

        I'd be inclined to see whether his various business ventures have exhibited this sort of hiring policy; or whether he's a "Buy American!" sort of guy when looking for votes; and a buy Mexican sort of guy when looking for labor...

        Trump CLEARLY would never say anything that wasn't true or self serving... [/sarcasm]

        Seriously, anyone thinking of actually voting for this guy is an idiot. Trump may be good for a laugh but he is not presidential material. We need someone who will actually try to understand issues before spewing whatever dumb idea jumps first into his mouth. Someone who has more nuance to their rhetoric than calling people "losers" or "rapists". There should be some dignity to the office and dignity is something Trump completely lacks. He might have said something that appeals on this one issue but that hardly makes him the guy you should vote for.

      • I'd be inclined to see whether his various business ventures have exhibited this sort of hiring policy; or whether he's a "Buy American!" sort of guy when looking for votes; and a buy Mexican sort of guy when looking for labor...

        Why does it matter? Don't hate the player, hate the game. It doesn't bother me if Trump as a businessman engaged in standard business practices. He's now saying the game sucks and needs to be changed. Good for him. Booo to people who think supposed hypocrisy is the greatest sin imag

        • Why does it matter? Don't hate the player, hate the game. It doesn't bother me if Trump as a businessman engaged in standard business practices. He's now saying the game sucks and needs to be changed. Good for him. Booo to people who think supposed hypocrisy is the greatest sin imaginable and should prevent us from fixing errors.

          Then the question would be what would it be changed to? I came from a country when a successful business man became Prime minister. What he did? Of course, change most of the country to be his way and benefit him and his people. Is that what you want this country to be if he becomes President? Good for you. ;-)

        • Why does it matter? Don't hate the player, hate the game. It doesn't bother me if Trump as a businessman engaged in standard business practices. He's now saying the game sucks and needs to be changed.

          It's almost axiomatic that we need immigration reforms. Saying that fact is hardly a revelation. The real question is WHAT changes. Saying we need change without a credible and achievable plan to do it is meaningless. Nothing that has come out of Trump's mouth is a credible plan for change. It's rhetoric designed to pander to people who are already pissed off about the issue. Pointing out the obvious fact that there is a problem does not constitute a plausible plan to fix it.

      • During his announcement speech, he knocked the HealthCare.gov website by saying that he has websites built for $3. Now, you can claim that HealthCare.gov cost too much or that it was too buggy and you'd have fair points. You can claim that the government shouldn't be running a "HealthCare.gov" and you'd have a fair political point. (One that many would disagree with, but still a fair opinion.) However, claiming that HealthCare.gov could be built for $3 is totally false. As a web developer, I know how m

        • Re:Amazing (Score:5, Insightful)

          by ProfBooty ( 172603 ) on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @09:15AM (#50338305)

          Trump has a political brilliance, a strategic brilliance, a thoroughness in showmanship unlike anything anybody else running has, a personal image perfect for maximizing his control over public opinion through the rhetorical strategy of hyperbole, and the money to do this his own way, right, without needing to be phony to satisfy some donor or other.

          Doesn't mean he will be a great president, but his use of hyperbole sticks in many average voters minds as it move the goal posts in his direction, even if the numbers he uses are actual incorrect. It is a great rhetorical device.

    • and yet TFS didn't even give us a link to his policy!

      Here's a "news" article that gives a link and a summary piece [breitbart.com] about it.

  • Trump (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I'm starting to like this Trump guy.

  • I like a Trump (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I usually have a good, long trump when I'm on the can

  • Awaiting Instructions From The Mother Ship (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @07:39AM (#50337773)

    I sense a great disturbance in the Force, as though millions of independent-minded correct-thinking Slashdotters crying out in confusion about what opinion they're supposed to have about Donald Trump...

  • End the H1b program (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @07:44AM (#50337791)

    It was there to fill a claimed temporary shortage, but it had the inevitable result of driving down wages and thus reducing people training to enter the field. It should have been killed a long time ago, there are other visa categories that can be matched for skilled labour.

    The H1b has some benefits for US employers, particularly it locks the employee in, they can't switch to a better job, Zuckerberg loves them, his slave army, but it gives H1Bs an advantage even for the same pay grade.

    Plus at the end, they leave, fully trained, and ready to work at your offshore division for a wage lower than the US and above the local wage, thus exporting the job and the skills.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by T.E.D. ( 34228 )

      It was there to fill a claimed temporary shortage, but it had the inevitable result of driving down wages

      An economist will tell you those are the same thing. Labor has a supply/demand curve, just like any other commodity. If you make more of anything available, you drive down the price. If less is available, the price goes up.

      ...and thus reducing people training to enter the field.

      Also something an economist could tell you, but still an important point.

      Still, even though its my ox gored here, I don't have a huge problem with bringing in more tech workers. Indians have families to feed too. The issue I have is that H1-B's are designed so that the employer has a ri

  • Scott Adams said it best... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Karmashock ( 2415832 ) on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @07:51AM (#50337817)

    http://blog.dilbert.com/post/1... [dilbert.com]

    ""
    Like many of you, I have been entertained by the unstoppable clown car that is Donald Trump. On the surface, and several layers deep as well, Trump appears to be a narcissistic blow-hard with inadequate credentials to lead a country.

    The only problem with my analysis is that there is an eerie consistency to his success so far. Is there a method to it? Is there some sort of system at work under the hood?

    Probably yes. Allow me to describe some of the hypnosis and persuasion methods Mr. Trump has employed on you. (Most of you know I am a trained hypnotist and this topic is a hobby of mine.)
    ""

    Trump is a complicated subject... because its insane... but the situation is so nutty that he starts to make sense... which tells you how insane the situation is...

    Americans are furious. Both sides of the political spectrum.

    Republicans are pissed.
    Democrats are pissed.

    No one trusts anyone.
    Both side's politicians are full of shit.

    There is a general consensus that the elites are fucking over the people at large.

    The republicans tried to purge their own party with the "tea party" and similar things. Democrats only see this form their perspective but they don't realize that a fair amount of the animus was directed at the establishment republicans which is why the establishment doesn't like the tea party.

    The democrats tried to purge their own party with stuff like code pink, occupy wall street, and now black lives matter.

    And all of this is failing. The Establishment of both parties is very good at stonewalling this stuff. Black Lives Matter shows up to a Bernie speech and basically takes it over. They try the same thing at a Hillary speech and they don't even get in the front door. Think about that.

    And that's basically what has been going on. So what is Donald Trump?

    In my view, he's a purgative. A drug you take to induce vomiting. You accidentally eat poison... it has to get out. So you take a purgative... and you vomit.

    The American electorate has been dry heaving for decades. We're that cat that just can't seem to get up that golf ball sized fur ball. And we just stand there back arched... dry heaving trying to get it out.

    Do I like Donald? He's a weird guy. But I think BOTH parties should have someone like him running. Because Hillary is business as usual, Bernie is weak, and I've not seen anyone else out of them that is ready to challenge the establishment.

    To paraphrase Augustus, "things that can't go on forever - don't."... The status quo is not acceptable. The corruption, the incompetence, the deceit... it has to stop.

    We tried just voting them out. That failed.
    We tried splinter political factions. That failed.
    We tried lobbying and bribery to make them stop. That failed.

    So... we're open to the "unstoppable clown car" that is Donald Trump.

    If this fails as well... it just means the madness will be escalated another notch. This is not stopping.

    Something that I think the establishment is starting to wake up to is that people are f'ing furious. And while some may giggle at the fury, it is unwise to not appreciate that people behave increasingly unpredictably as the fury builds. The sort of rage that is building is the kind where you rip off your OWN arm and beat someone to death with it. The establishment can't handle that.

    I assume Donald is going to lose here... but whomever does win... whomever is in charge... they're going to have to change the way things are done. Because the whole "you need to pass the law to see what is in it" thing along with powerful people blatantly violating federal law and getting away with it... The big powerful companies fucking up and then getting bailed out by everyone that didn't fuck up.

    This is starting to get dangerous.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ashshy ( 40594 )
      Thanks for the link. Mind: blown. I...

      Uh, I have to go think about stuff now. I feel so manipulated.

  • Presidential elections are like Microsoft Windows (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anon-Admin ( 443764 ) on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @07:53AM (#50337825) Journal

    Presidential elections are like software versions. They promise great new features, they promise to fix existing bugs.

    Once you buy it on the promises, the fix or feature is slotted for the next version or update.

    Most of the time you will forget it was promised or by they time they get to version 3, it will be a problem for the new development team.

    Remember, the president is like a CEO/Sales person. He can not really fix any of the issues, he can only suggest that it be fixed and push others to fix it.

    • Re:Presidential elections are like Microsoft Windo (Score:4, Informative)

      by mu51c10rd ( 187182 ) on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @11:11AM (#50339329)

      Remember, the president is like a CEO/Sales person. He can not really fix any of the issues, he can only suggest that it be fixed and push others to fix it.

      Well said...seems every election year, people forget that most of the issues the candidates claim they will fix, actually require Congress to fix them. The President relies upon 535 House members and 100 Senators to actually do any of their promises...hence, most don't happen.

  • Clinically insane (Score:3)

    by ThatsNotPudding ( 1045640 ) on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @07:56AM (#50337839)
    The problem with the clinically insane is once in a while, they make a cogent point.

    They're still bug-fuck crazy, though.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @08:11AM (#50337915)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I still wouldn't vote for him. That said he really is what the political process needs. In his rantings he has brought up a number of things that should be discussed. Like it or not he has proposed something on dealing with ISIS, he brought up the illegal immigration issue in a very bold and blunt way, same thing with the H-1B visa issue. Unlike most candidates he is providing a bold vision that others must address which unfortunately his opponents are just dithering on or quietly stating me too. He has a h

  • Trump taking a position at all on H1Bs (Score:3)

    by swb ( 14022 ) on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @08:47AM (#50338141)

    ...is kind of interesting. Have we had any candidate outsdie of the far left who's done anything besides outright supporting the H1B program as big business likes it, quietly going along with it or ignoring it? It sure seems like the most common reactions among both parties are to either vigorously support H1B programs because they want support from big business or dot-com, pretend it isn't an issue or stake out some kind of multiculturist pro-immigration position claiming we need the world's best and brightest. The latter is at least a position that sounds rational but seldom includes changes to the program to eliminate abuses and usually just ends up being an entity that didn't get the visas they wanted for the people they wanted.

    To me that Trump is critical of this in at least a somewhat thoughtful way shows an interesting policy position. Either it shows Trump is more intelligent than he seems or at least is far savvier in staking out positions than might be expected from his bellicose pronouncements.

    It's too easy to say he's just pandering to natvist sentiments because I don't think the H1B visa program has the kind of visibility among the kinds of people who hate immigration because immigrants are brown and talk funny.

  • Also in The Register (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Sara Chan ( 138144 ) on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @08:52AM (#50338171)
    There is another (I believe better) article about this in The Register: “Donald Trump dumps on Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg [theregister.co.uk]”. Some quotes from Trump, extracted from the article, are below.

    We graduate two times more Americans with STEM degrees each year than find STEM jobs, yet as much as two-thirds of entry-level hiring for IT jobs is accomplished through the H-1B program. More than half of H-1B visas are issued for the program's lowest allowable wage level, and more than eighty percent for its bottom two. Raising the prevailing wage paid to H-1Bs will force companies to give these coveted entry-level jobs to the existing domestic pool of unemployed native and immigrant workers in the U.S., instead of flying in cheaper workers from overseas. This will improve the number of black, Hispanic and female workers in Silicon Valley who have been passed over in favor of the H-1B program.

    Mark Zuckerberg’s personal Senator, Marco Rubio, has a bill to triple H-1Bs that would decimate women and minorities.

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