H-1B visas cost more, but that may not solve the problem
Obtaining an H-1B visa would cost a company $100,000, but the fee may not be an incentive for companies to hire American workers.
President Donald Trump sparked a wave of MAGA criticism by telling an interviewer that the United States needs to “bring in talent,” pushing back on the idea that the country already has enough talented workers and defending the use of the H-1B visa program.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked Trump this week about H-1B visas, saying they hurt American workers’ wages.
President Trump said, “I agree, but we also need to attract talent.”
When Ingraham countered, “We have a lot of talented people,” Trump responded, “No, that’s not true.”
“You don’t have a particular talent,” he added.
President Trump’s comments echo the views of many business leaders, particularly those in the technology industry, who have used the H-1B program to strengthen their skilled workforce. But the issue has been a thorny issue for MAGA and a point of tension for the Trump administration in the past.
Elon Musk, a tech billionaire and former Trump adviser, advocated the H1-B program and received a rebuke from Steve Bannon, a prominent MAGA figure who served as White House chief strategist during Trump’s first term.
Prominent conservative commentator Mike Cernovich wrote on social media that President Trump’s comments to Ingraham about American workers “hurt everyone’s hearts.”
“I firmly oppose replacing H-1B workers with foreign workers,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote in a Nov. 12 social media post.
Sabana Hernandez, a contributor to the conservative group Turning Point USA, called Trump’s comments “disappointing.”
“Mr. Trump needs to get out of his bubble and get back on the ground listening to the American people who elected him to work for us,” Hernandez wrote in X. “His H-1B comments show how far off base he is.”
President Trump has made H-1B visas more difficult to obtain, ordering them to cost $100,000 per application in September. But his continued defense of the program is one of the few immigration issues that puts him at odds with some in the MAGA base.
The federal government is capping the issuance of new H-1B visas at 65,000, with an additional 20,000 visas available for those with a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. institution of higher education.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, this visa category allows employers to seek workers with a high degree of education, at least a bachelor’s degree, who can perform in a “professional occupation.”
According to USCIS, hospitalization is typically allowed for up to three years, but this can be extended to six years.
Contributed by: Eduardo Cuevas, USA TOD
