IT jobs

The Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank that generally favors higher immigration levels, is nevertheless an ally on the adverse effect temporary employment-based non-immigrant visas have on American workers

Recently, the University of California, San Francisco campus fired 49 information technology workers, and will replace them with foreign-born H-1B visa holders. On the story’s surface, the news is disgusting and disheartening, but hardly headline-making. H-1Bs have routinely displaced Americans since Congress created the visa more than 30 years ago.

Silicon Valley is angry at President Donald Trump. First, after putting piles of cash at the feet of Hillary Clinton, tech executives suffered a doomed love affair with their defeated candidate.

Apparently, Silicon Valley didn’t get the Election Day memo. President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on, among other issues, getting Americans back to work, and establishing a legal immigration system that functions in the nation’s best interest.

In a recent press release, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a global consultancy firm, wrote that in 2015 the U.S. technology sector – computer, technology and telecommunications firms – announced 79,315 planned job cuts.

Now I know why my son, an engineering graduate, struggled so long to find his first job!

In December 2014, I was a proud father. My 22-year-old son had endured four years of one of the most grueling majors in higher education – electrical engineering – and had just graduated with a respectable GPA from one of the top engineering colleges in the country – Virginia Tech.

Spouses of H-1B visa holders will soon be eligible for employment, a benefit they understood would not be available to them once they came to the United States.