Washington Post
By Michelle Ye Hee Lee
March 21, 2016
For
someone who has strong words about the current state of immigration,
Donald Trump certainly has inconsistent ideas about what to do about it.
Immigration has been the Republican front-runner’s
signature issue since he entered the race. He has stuck to his early
idea of building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, but has shifted
several times about the H-1B program, which grants temporary visas to
non-immigrant workers. We took a look at his major
public statements about his view on the H-1B program, and unpacked his
flip-floppery.
“The
influx of foreign workers holds down salaries, keeps unemployment high,
and makes it difficult for poor and working class Americans — including
immigrants themselves and their children
— to earn a middle class wage. … We need companies to hire from the
domestic pool of unemployed. Petitions for workers should be mailed to
the unemployment office not USCIS [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services].”
— Trump proposal on campaign website
Trump
released his immigration proposal early in his campaign, arguing that
foreign workers are holding down American salaries and hurting
employment rates. Trump proposed restricting the
program, and criticized it for giving away coveted entry-level IT jobs
to workers flown in cheaper from overseas.
He
proposed increasing the prevailing wage for H-1B visas and adding a
recruitment requirement to find American workers before hiring foreign
ones. Raising the prevailing wage for H-1B workers
will force companies to give entry-level jobs to U.S. workers instead
of flying in cheaper labor, according to the proposal. This would help
diversity in Silicon Valley, the proposal says, so that black, Hispanic
and female workers will be hired from the existing
pool.
Trump
correctly noted there is no requirement for employers to recruit
American workers first, and called for this to be required. These
proposed changes are consistent with proposals from
those who believe the H-1B program is being widely abused to the
detriment of American workers.
Moderator
Becky Quick: “You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of
Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H-1Bs.”
Trump:
“I was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly,
he’s complaining about the fact that we’re losing some of the most
talented people. They go to Harvard. They
go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country, and
they’re immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these
talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley.”
Quick: “Are you in favor of H-1Bs or are you opposed to them?”
Trump:
“I’m in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know
what? They can have it any way you want. You can call it visas, you can
call it work permits, you can call it
anything you want. … As far as the visas are concerned, if we need
people, it’s fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a
country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the
laws. It’s fine if they come in, but they have to
come in legally.”
— exchange during the Republican debate on CNBC, Oct. 28
The
first time Trump was asked about the H-1B program during a debate was
in October. Trump took a more moderate stance than his policy proposal,
even supporting the visas for bringing in
talent from out of the country. He made no mention of his plan to wipe
out abuse, though he said the program must follow the laws.
Further,
Trump denied he was critical of Zuckerberg, of Facebook. Maybe he
forgot, or was unaware of, the information in his policy proposal and
its criticism of Silicon Valley executives
using H-1B to hire foreign workers, saying his proposals “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.”
Moderator
Megyn Kelly: “Mr. Trump, your campaign website to this day argues that
more visas for highly skilled workers would, quote, ‘decimate’ American
workers. However, at the CNBC debate,
you spoke enthusiastically in favor of these visas. So, which is it?”
Trump:
“I’m changing. I’m changing. We need highly skilled people in this
country, and if we can’t do it, we’ll get them in. But, and we do need
in Silicon Valley, we absolutely have to have.
So, we do need highly skilled, and one of the biggest problems we have
is people go to the best colleges. They’ll go to Harvard, they’ll go to
Stanford, they’ll go to Wharton, as soon as they’re finished they’ll get
shoved out. They want to stay in this country.
They want to stay here desperately, they’re not able to stay here. For
that purpose, we absolutely have to be able to keep the brain power in
this country.”
— exchange during Republican debate on Fox News, March 3
Trump
was confronted about the answer he gave during the CNBC debate in
October, showing support for the H-1B program. He admitted that his
stance is changing. When Kelly asked in a follow-up
question whether he was abandoning the position on his website, Trump
answered: “I’m changing it, and I’m softening the position because we
have to have talented people in this country.”
Trump’s
answer here was consistent with his answer during the CNBC debate. He
said again that Silicon Valley needs highly skilled workers, and showed
his support for the H-1B program. Further,
he appeared to support employers sponsoring H-1B workers for green cards, saying, “We absolutely have to be able to keep the brain power in
this country.”
“Megyn
Kelly asked about highly-skilled immigration. The H-1B program is
neither high-skilled nor immigration: these are temporary foreign
workers, imported from abroad, for the explicit
purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay. I remain
totally committed to eliminating rampant, widespread H-1B abuse and
ending outrageous practices such as those that occurred at Disney in
Florida when Americans were forced to train their foreign
replacements. I will end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor
program, and institute an absolute requirement to hire American workers
for every visa and immigration program. No exceptions.”
— Trump statement, March 3
Trump
reversed his claim after the debate ended. In a statement released on
his campaign website, he said he does not actually support H-1Bs.
Instead, he said he would “end forever” using H-1B workers for cheaper labor, and stuck to his initial proposal of a
recruitment requirement for employers.
Is
Trump suggesting he misunderstood the question, or that Kelly had asked
about a different program? It’s clear she asked him about his stance on H-1B. And his answer is a repeat of his
previous answers on H1B visas, suggesting he knew what he was talking
about.
H-1B visas are non-immigrant temporary work visas, as Trump says. Companies
use it to temporarily hire a foreign national for specialty occupations,
and can sponsor them for permanent residency.
So it is sometimes viewed as a method of bringing in skilled
immigrants. H-1Bs also are used for fashion models working temporarily
in the United States.
Some H-1B workers are highly skilled, which can be determined by their
degree and by their wages. The majority of H-1B workers are in
computer-related occupations. The median salary H-1Brecipients in fiscal 2014 was $75,000, and 55 percent of them had
degrees higher than a bachelor’s. Nearly 72 percent of all workers who
were granted continuing or initial employment with H-1B visas in fiscal
2014 were 25 to 34 years old.
“I
know the H-1B. I know the H2B. Nobody knows it better than me. I’m a
businessman. These are laws. These are regulations. These are rules.
We’re allowed to do it. … I will take advantage
of it; they’re the laws. But I’m the one that knows how to change it.
Nobody else on this dais knows how to change it like I do, believe me.”
“I
know the H-1B very well. And it’s something that I, frankly, use, and I
shouldn’t be allowed to use it. We shouldn’t have it. Very, very bad
for workers. And second of all, I think it’s
very important to say, well, I’m a businessman and I have to do what I
have to do. When it’s sitting there waiting for you, but it’s very bad.
It’s very bad for business in terms of — and it’s very bad for our
workers and it’s unfair for our workers. And we
should end it.”
— Trump, Republican debate on CNN, March 10
Perhaps these answers get us closer to the truth.
Trump
acknowledged that as an employer, he took advantage of the H-1B program
to hire foreign workers. It is a lawful option, he added, but he
“shouldn’t be allowed to use it.” Trump argued
that because he uses the program, he knows how unfair it is for
American workers — and that he wants to end the program.
The Pinocchio Test
Trump
is speaking out of both sides of his mouth. He has used the H-1B program as an employer, and supports bringing talented, educated workers
into the country. But he also wants to end
the H-1B program because he believes it’s full of abuse. He proposes
restricting the program so that the industry that most relies on it —–
the tech industry — can’t use it to shut Americans out from jobs in
Silicon Valley. Yet he says he supports Silicon
Valley taking measures to retain talented and educated foreign workers.
We
don’t know exactly what to make of his stance — and it’s unclear if
Trump even knows himself. However, what unequivocally can say is that
Trump deserves a handful of Upside-Down Pinocchios
for his flip-floppery.
An Upside-Down Pinocchio
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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