Why techs oppose Trump's visa program

A recent CNN money report, "What Trump's latest H-1B move means for workers and business", is more CNN nonsense.

Of course, tech companies are worried about Trump's H2B visa program. Foreign workers are paid 80 percent or less than that of U.S. workers. The big losers are the job brokers, who obtain most of the H1B visas, then farmworkers out to employers in exchange for as much as 20 percent of their salary. Meanwhile, American college graduates live with their parents because they can't find work and further have health insurance until age 26. Then what?

At present, 65,000 H1B visa workers are employed in the U.S., the maximum limit under law. At the same time, 50,000 qualified American technical workers are unemployed or underemployed. Trump promised to make American workers come first, and now he begins to make good on their behalf. O, the horror!

Colleges and universities are feeling the pinch, too, and squealing loudly. Educational visas are separate and easier to obtain, but without the ability to work in the U.S. after graduation, there is less incentive for the present high rate of foreign enrollments to continue. Of note is that foreigners on a student visa are required to pay nonresident tuition.

With perverse logic, and political expediency, illegal immigrants can enroll in a state university and pay resident tuition, a substantial discount. Perhaps the foreign students should violate the terms of their visa, changing their status to "illegal" and take advantage of this policy. At very least universities would have to reconsider their "sanctuary" status.

Nancy J. Thorner

Lake Bluff