H-1B visa program sparks debate

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything In It, an immigration showdown.

Most of the media attention over the past few years has focused on unlawful crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border. Issues related to legal immigration pathways don’t often make the headlines.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: But last week, one of President-elect Donald Trump’s appointments ignited a debate among Trump supporters. It related to a guest worker program for high-skilled immigrants, called the H1-B visa. Does it help or hurt American workers?

WORLD’s Addie Offereins investigated what’s really behind the kerfuffle. She talked to several of these immigrant workers. And she’s here to tell us a little about what she discovered. Good morning Addie.

ADDIE OFFEREINS: Good morning.

BROWN: Tell us a little bit about the immigrant workers with whom you spoke.

OFFEREINS: Most of them were from India, which makes sense considering that's the majority of H-1B visa holders. For one, originally wanted to stay in India, but the masters program he wanted was too competitive in his home country, so he came to study in the U.S. and then got a job here. Another individual I spoke with emphasized that the U.S. does have a problem with illegal immigration, but argued workers like himself contribute a lot to the economy.

REICHARD: One more question for you: what surprised you about this story?

OFFEREINS: I didn’t expect Bernie Sanders to find anything in common with Trump supporters. But he agrees with the members of Trump’s coalition that are critical of employment-based immigration. We’ll hear more about that in a moment.

BROWN: Thanks for your excellent reporting Addie.

OFFEREINS: Thank you.

REICHARD: To read Addie’s story for WORLD Digital, or to sign up for her weekly Compassion newsletter, visit wng.org. You’ll find a link to both in today’s transcript.

Now with more from Addie’s story, here’s WORLD Radio reporter Anna Johansen Brown:

ANNA JOHNANSEN BROWN: Nikita Kothari left Bangalore, India, almost 10 years ago to begin a masters degree in electrical engineering in the United States.

NIKITA KOTHARI: India did not have that many opportunities at that time… I also had my student loan to pay, which was quite a big number when I came to study in the U.S., and so it made sense to stay here, work for a little bit, hopefully pay off the loans, and then see where it comes from there.

After she graduated, she had three years to apply for a temporary H-1B work visa used to hire foreign professionals to fill specialty occupations, typically in technology or healthcare fields. The program, which Congress created in 1990, is capped at 85,000 spots every year.

DAVID BIER: It's been filled basically every year that we've had the 85,000 cap, and lately it's filled even before the year starts

David Bier is the director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute.

BIER: The visas are allocated through a lottery, and so you have about one in four chances of winning the lottery if you get an employer to enter on your behalf.

Kothari’s company entered the lottery on her behalf in 2018.

KOTHARI: Unfortunately, mine did not get picked.

She remembers crying with her friends after she found out. Her company re-entered the lottery for her again in 2019. It was her last shot at staying in the United States.

KOTHARI: Mentally, I was prepared. I was totally prepared, thinking I would have to go back home.

The acceptance email from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services landed in her inbox at 4 a.m.

KOTHARI: It was great news to wake up to, so I immediately called my family.

The H-1B visa Kothari needed to keep her job and remain in the country is at the center of a heated online debate among Trump supporters that began shortly after Christmas. The schism follows Trump’s appointment of White House adviser Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-American who favors bringing skilled workers to the United States.

AUDIO: Silicon Valley finds itself at the center of a raging political debate that could dramatically impact its workforce. It is pitting some of the biggest names in tech who happen to be supporters of Donald Trump against the president-elect's base.

On one side, the two nominees Trump tapped to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency. Elon Musk argued the H-1B program is essential for American tech companies like Tesla. And Vivek Ramaswamy called the program a necessary antidote for a culture that has “venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long.”

But another wing of Trump supporters claim the program allows companies to pass over American workers in favor of cheaper alternatives.

They found an unlikely ally in Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent.

STAN VEUGER: Bernie Sanders has always been, you know, anti immigration, like much of the labor movement is as well.

Stan Veuger is an economist at the American Enterprise Institute. He first came to the United States from the Netherlands on an H-1B visa. Veuger wasn’t surprised by bipartisan opposition to the program.

VEUGER: They believe that, if there's basically a fixed number of jobs you bring in immigrants, they drive down wages. And because they believe that, they have always thought that shielding off the American labor market helps American workers.

In a recent op-ed, Sanders pointed to a report showing Tesla laid off 10% of its global workforce in April while still requesting 2,000 H-1B visas.

Another critical report published by the Economic Policy Institute, which is a think tank funded by labor unions, showed that Tesla wasn’t alone. The top 30 H-1B employers collectively laid off tens of thousands of workers during the past couple of years, but they also hired thousands of H-1B employees.

But Veuger pointed out it’s impossible to draw a direct connection between lay offs and H-1B hires. And he argued restricting H-1B visas will hurt American workers in the long term since companies won’t be able to access the talent they need.

VEUGER: Down the road, you'll see less innovation, fewer new American businesses.

Aside from the economic questions, critics also raise fraud concerns.

SIMON HANKINSON: There were Indian companies that there were outsourcers that would hire H-1B for jobs that didn't yet exist and when they got those people to the states they would farm them out.

Simon Hankinson is a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation who worked as a visa adjudicator interviewing H-1B applicants from 2000 to 2002.

HANKINSON: Cases of just outright fraud, where people aren't qualified for the job, they don't even have a college degree, they don't have any specialty occupation.

Hankinson also pointed out that the visa was originally intended to be a temporary work visa, but many applicants use it as a stepping stone to permanent residency.

WORLD spoke with five H-1B visa holders. All of them have already requested a green card.

Veuger doesn’t see that as a problem. He pointed out the visa is one of the only viable paths for talented professionals to contribute to the U.S. economy.

VEUGER: I think people are a little casual about the, the existence of the program, as if there's all these alternatives that come with more flexibility or a more immediate path to permanent residency.

Trump recently told the New York Post he supports the visas and that his business has used the program. But during his first administration, he imposed visa and travel restrictions that caused the number of admitted H-1B visa holders to plummet.

And that brings us back to Nikita Kothari. Today she lives in Durham, North Carolina and still works for the company that sponsored her H1-B visa. She has filed for an employment-based green card but is now married to an American citizen. She may apply for a green card through marriage so that it’s approved more quickly. Either way, she’s grateful for the opportunity to work here…but she’s found much more than just a career.

KOTHARI: Ultimately, God is in control.

Kothari became a Christian shortly after she arrived in the United States.

KOTHARI: I was in Chicago, was a part of the student ministry there, and I started going to a Bible study just because I didn't have anything to do.

She’s learned to trust God’s sovereignty—even over visa lotteries, and her coworkers have noticed her peaceful attitude.

KOTHARI: Just understanding Jesus is not just an American God…even if I go back to India, he is with me there.

For WORLD I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

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