Pandemic lockdowns thrust the country into a holding pattern with unemployment soaring from historic lows to 13.3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ May report. Concerns that some jobs will not be waiting for working families when state economies have reopened drew a determined response from President Trump.
“Obviously American workers have been hurt, and it’s nobody’s fault that the coronavirus hit, but it did do a blow to the economy and to businesses who were furloughing and laying people off, and we want to make sure that Americans get hired into those spots,” Department of Homeland Security Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli reportedly said.
The president signed a continuation of his earlier executive order action barring foreigners from taking jobs away from Americans who lost them due to the economic disruption. In his latest “Americans First” strategy, those from other countries will need to wait their turn, and that happens when U.S. citizens get back to work. President Trump’s most recent policy will secure an additional 600,000 jobs that would otherwise be taken by foreigners. The following visa types will be halted until 2021 at the earliest.
- H-1B Visas: These focus on white-collar U.S. jobs.
- H-4 Visas: Jobs taken by spouses of H-1B visa holders
- H-2B Visas: Non-agricultural blue-collar jobs
- L Visas: Another class of white-collar jobs
- J-1 Visas: A type that allows workers to steal wide-ranging U.S. jobs.
The fake news and establish media outlets already began rolling out propaganda to undermine this Americans First policy. Outlets have implied that coronavirus vaccine research was being impeded by the move. But the reality of non-agricultural visas is that these jobs would be enjoyed by Americans, many without college degrees.
Amazon, the online e-commerce and delivery corporation, hires among the most foreign workers. The jobs are warehouse work and driving delivery trucks. Everyday Americans could easily fill many positions, but Amazon’s manipulation of the visa process helps them get cheap labor and drive down wages.
Big Tech corporations reportedly put enormous pressure on the White House to keep the floodgates of foreigners open. They claim they “need” foreign workers because there are not enough skilled Americans to do the jobs. Most reports show that’s not true, in fact, most reports say that Big Tech prefers foreign workers because they can pay them lower wages and because they prefer diversity over Americans. The White House rejected Big Techs assertations and decided that only seasonal farmworkers were needed in areas of the country that rely on extra help to bring in crops.
“For the most part, the president withstood intense pressure from powerful business interests that continue to demand more cheap foreign labor, even as they have laid-off an unprecedented number of American workers over the past three months,” Dan Stein, Federation for American Immigration Reform president, reportedly stated. “We fully expect that the agencies charged with carrying out this Proclamation in furtherance of the president’s intent to aid struggling American workers will resist pressure from corporate lobbyists to abuse their discretionary authority.”
And abuse is precisely what has transpired for decades with the visa and immigration process. Foreigners gain a foothold and then begin what is commonly called “chain migration.” They start with a spouse, children, then expand to parents on both sides, siblings, and even cousins in some cases. The Trump Administration has fought to reduce visas and green cards and limit them to only those who bring valuable and specialized skills that improve the country, not swipe jobs.
Due to the pandemic, the country went from a 50-year low unemployment rate of 3.5 percent to 30 million filings. Already, states such as Florida and Oklahoma, among others, are dramatically reducing unemployment and the phased reopening has lowered the number of Americans out of work to 20.5 million. But unless U.S. jobs are protected going forward, it could be Americans on welfare while someone from another country takes home your salary.
