Sen. Rick Scott of Florida is moving to shut down a controversial visa program that he argues rewards foreign workers at the expense of American citizens and jeopardizes national security.
Scotts proposal, the Prioritizing American Talent Act, would bar the Department of Homeland Security from spending any funds to facilitate employment for foreign nationals through the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, according to WND. The program, created in 1992, permits international students to remain in the United States and work for nearly four years after graduation, while employers receive a tax incentive for hiring theman arrangement critics say tilts the playing field against American graduates.
Scott has repeatedly warned that OPT is not merely an economic issue but a security concern, particularly involving students from the Peoples Republic of China. He argues that the program allows Chinese nationals access to sensitive technology and cutting-edge research at premier American companies and universities, only to take that knowledge back to a hostile communist regime.
We need to make more jobs available for hardworking Americans, not foreign workers who come over to exploit the systemincluding thousands from Communist China, Scott said in a statement to the Daily Signal. This is why we need to end the Optional Practical Training Program, which has allowed employers to import foreign labor under the guise of job training. Thats why I am proud to introduce this bill to end it.
Although the executive branch has the authority to dismantle OPT through regulatory action, President Donald Trumps administration has not publicly initiated the rulemaking process, prompting Scott and other conservatives in Congress to advance legislative solutions. For lawmakers on the right, the issue underscores a broader concern that federal policy has been skewed toward global labor markets and corporate preferences rather than the interests of American workers.
We need to make sure that Americans who work hard and play by the rules still have the chance to live their American dream, Scott said. He told the Daily Signal that ordinary citizens are shocked when they learn how the program operates and how their tax dollars effectively subsidize foreign labor.
It makes you mad, he said. We all pay our taxes, and then we create incentives for our companies in our country to hire foreign workers. Scott added that the urgency is both economic and strategic, warning that the program is ripe for abuse and exploitation by adversarial regimes.
This should happen today, one, to help Americans get jobs, and number two, we got to get rid of this for the fraud, he said. Number three, weve got a lot of people here from Communist China, theyre spying on us and stealing things from our companies.
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