In a move that has sparked controversy, executives are leveraging a law from 1990 to usher in an additional 85,000 foreign graduates for U.S. white-collar jobs.
This decision comes despite the high unemployment rate among the nation's young college graduates. The influx for 2025 was announced by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The agency stated, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services [USCIS] has received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the masters cap, for fiscal year 2026.
According to Breitbart, the USCIS also revealed that it is in the process of drafting a regulation to modify how companies import H-1B workers. The announcement, however, did not provide a timeline or a detailed description of the draft regulation. It is speculated that the rules may align with the short-lived reforms implemented by President Donald Trump's administration in 2021.
Kevin Lynn, founder of U.S. Tech Workers, which advocates for U.S. professionals, expressed his support for the new regulation. He stated, The new regulation is a good idea. He further explained that a regulation similar to Trump's that allocates visas to companies offering higher pay would make it less predatory towards more ordinary tech workers and [to new] graduates entering STEM fields.
The USCIS has recently tightened the white-collar TN visa worker program, putting an end to its use by foreign doctors, computer experts, welders, and electricians. Lynn praised the impact of President Trump's appointments in these agencies, stating, Were starting to see the impact of having [President Donald Trumps] good appointments throughout these agencies, at the Department of Labor, at DHS, and the Department of Justice. He also noted the growing public awareness of the unemployment rate of recent computer science graduates, which is over six percent.
Lynn further expressed his views on the H-1B program, stating, The best of all possible worlds is that Congress would vote to get rid of the H-1B program. He added, The whole concept of the H-1B program is predicated on a [claimed] labor shortage, but were saying the labor shortage doesnt exist at all, and it is a way to bring in cheap foreign workers to displace Americans.
The DHS oversees the annual inflow of over 500,000 foreign graduates through various business-backed programs. The H-1B program alone keeps at least 700,000 mixed-skill, foreign workers in U.S. jobs. In total, the federal government permits U.S. executives to employ approximately 1.5 million foreign contract workers in U.S. jobs that would otherwise be filled by U.S. professionals. A significant portion of these mixed-skill workers are from India, while China provides many of the high-skill visa workers in the banking, artificial intelligence, and computer security sectors.
Critics argue that the massive influx of contract workers into jobs held by American professionals has negatively impacted U.S. research, productivity, and innovation. These visa workers hold a substantial share of the nations computer technology jobs and are expanding into other professions, including science, recruitment, medicine, and accounting.
The replacement wave is accelerating partly because Indian-born visa workers at U.S. companies are receiving green cards and promotions into management jobs. Once promoted, these foreign-born managers can sell the jobs held by unsuspecting American employees to poor foreign graduates. This practice is facilitated by home-country brokers and funded by kickbacks from the jobs salaries, according to Americans and former H-1B workers.
Rex from Dallas, an American who has been working with Indian H-1B workers for decades, shared his observations with Breitbart News. He said, For Indians, it was just a regular thing it was customary, they werent even upset about it. He added, We got a few good [Indian workers] here Theyre the ones that tell me a lot of these stories about the kickbacks.
The foreign visa workers are not immigrants, and they cannot work as free-speaking professionals because they face the everyday threat of being sent home if they anger their executives. Most are also kept subordinate because their employers dangle the promise of U.S. citizenship in exchange for years of hard work.
The annual inflow of roughly 400,000 white-collar visa workers is damaging job prospects and salaries for American graduates. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported an unemployment rate of 7.5 percent for graduates with computer engineering degrees, 6.1 percent for chemical engineers, and 6.1 percent for computer science graduates. These rates are far higher than the 3.0 unemployment rate for art history graduates, 1.3 percent for early childhood education, and 2.6 percent for ethnic studies graduates.
Katie in North Carolina, the mother of one graduate, shared her son's experience with Breitbart News. She said, They have been applying for jobs steadily, like hundreds and hundreds of applications, and are not even able to get an interview. She added, Its not that theyre being picky and saying, Oh, I wont take a job for this much money. They would like to work in their field.
Jim from Herndon, an information technology manager, echoed Katie's sentiments. He said, Right now, there doesnt appear to be any positions for STEM graduates. His two nephews are looking all over the country to be able to get a first job, found nothing [and] so theyre doing lifeguarding again this summer.
As Trumps deputies move to reform the visa programs, Americans need to speak up and organize, said Lynn. He concluded, Were fighting a battle for the hearts and minds of Americans on this, adding, We are winning by any measure: Americans are waking up to whats going on.
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