Watchdog Slams Trump Administration for Moving to Restrict Work Visas

For Immediate Release
June 22, 2020
Contact: Grace Morgan
(202-855-4380)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) criticized the Trump administration for reportedly moving to restrict work visas. Fortune reports, “One possibility under consideration would restrict people from entering the U.S. on visa categories including the H-1B program for as long as 180 days…Workers who were granted those visas but remain outside the country may not be able to enter until the order expires.” The administration and lawmakers have long set their sights on programs such as H-1B, which have allowed more than 80,000 workers from around the world into the U.S. each year.

TPA Vice President of Policy Ross Marchand pushed back against these proposed measures, stating, “with application costs totaling up to $10,000 per worker under the H-1B program, it isn’t cheap for large tech, consulting, and medical firms to tap the talent of these professionals. But, H-1B workers typically deliver value to employers and consumers worth many times that expense, bolstering the U.S. economy and creating better-paying opportunities for everyone. Shutting down this program until the end of the year would destroy countless opportunities, kneecapping the economy during an exceptionally difficult time.”

Marchand continued: “The evidence overwhelmingly shows that these worker visa programs are an overwhelming boon to the U.S. economy. A 2015 study by University of California, Davis and Colgate University scholars found that a single percentage point increase in a city’s H-1B science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related employment was linked to a 7 percent to 8 percent overall boost in wages for college-educated Americans in that city. Americans without college educations also saw a significant 3 percent to 4 percent increase in wages. Clearly, these foreign-born workers play an outsized role in boosting the American Dream. In addition to the economic benefits, these work programs bring in hundreds of millions of dollars into the U.S. Treasury in application fees.”

“Curbing these guest worker programs during the worst public health crisis of our lifetimes would be especially devastating for working-class Americans. Medical facilities in rural areas rely heavily on H-1B staff to treat patients. These areas would otherwise face great difficulty in recruiting doctors. And, across the country, doctors struggling to fulfill a surge of telemedicine requests can now refer patients to H-1B doctors. But if the Trump administration and Congress limit H-1B and similar programs, millions of patients’ lives would be put in jeopardy.”

Marchand concluded: “Allowing for skilled work-based immigration to the U.S. benefits everyone and helps support America’s deeply-strained healthcare system. The federal government simply cannot afford to put the brakes on these critical programs.”

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