Guest Post by Joe Guzzardi
Pinch me! I must be dreaming. After years of displacing U.S. tech workers, the Optional Practical Training program has finally appeared on Congress’ radar. OPT has gobbled up U.S. jobs at an alarming rate and is now larger than the notorious H-1B visa program, created as part of the Immigration Act of 1990, that grants 85,000 employment-based visas to foreign nationals each year even though there’s an abundance of skilled American workers available.
OPT has accounted for more than 200,000 foreign students remaining in the U.S. to work in each of the last few years. Overall, between 2008 and 2016, OPT workers increased by 400 percent. It’s important to know that Congress never approved OPT; no public comment period was provided, and the program exists solely through regulation.
The abused OPT evolved from the F-1 student visa which originally granted overseas students permission to
study in the U.S., and then have brief on-the-job training that was unavailable to the students in their home countries. The government’s original intention was that students, after completing their academic curriculum and training, would return home to use newly acquired education and skills for the betterment of their homelands.
Over the years, the government made adjustments. But the haymaker punch as far as U.S. workers are concerned came not during a congressional session as one might expect, but rather at a Washington, D.C., cocktail party of elites. Over drinks, Microsoft’s Bill Gates cried to then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that his company, and other multibillion-dollar tech corporations, needed more H-1Bs but were unable to sway Congress. Tech lobbyists and DHS then concocted a scheme that eventually evolved into OPT for students with science, technology, engineering and math degrees (STEM) receiving work permission for up to the program’s current 42-month level. An extra bonus for craven employers is that unlike H-1B visas, OPT has no numerical cap and no government oversight.
An 11-year-old lawsuit challenging OPT is in a circular pattern going nowhere. Candidate Trump indicated an interest in squelching OPT, but as president his interest has dimmed. Enter U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) who is introducing legislation to end the job-killing, corporate enriching OPT. Gosar also is urging President Trump to sign an executive order that would terminate OPT. In his no-nonsense letter to President Trump, Gosar wrote that the media and corporations have promoted the false narrative that no qualified U.S. workers are available.
Bloomberg Law reporter Laura Francis provided readers with valuable insights into why employers addicted to cheap labor covet OPT workers, and why they prefer the foreign nationals to Americans – employers get a “15.3 percent tax discount for hiring OPT workers instead of U.S. workers.” Among those that have profited the most by spurning Americans in favor of international students are the usual suspects: Amazon (3,655), Intel (1,707), Google (1,501), Microsoft (1,022), Facebook (798) and IBM (633) were in 2017 top OPT employers. DHS data showed that Amazon earned nearly $25 million in tax breaks for hiring foreign nationals instead of U.S. tech workers.
Deconstructing how OPT grew into the job-eating monster it’s become begins with that tony cocktail party. One of the world’s richest men, Gates, whose net worth then exceeded $50 billion, approached one of the federal government’s most powerful officials, Chertoff, and they concocted a scheme to present to the Obama administration, the most anti-American worker presidency in U.S. history. The co-conspirators’ strategy was simple and successful – proceed in stealth, keep the public mired in darkness and, at all costs, keep Congress out of it.
With luck, Gosar’s intervention will encourage President Trump to take long-overdue action, and end OPT.
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Our nation has been sabotage in and out in so many ways . I’m so sick and tired of these treasonous bastards. I feel sorry for the young white people who have been betrayed and robbed of their country. Even the ones that do manage to get good jobs have had their culture stolen from them. I am pulling back the final curtain and it’s hard to put in words what I am discovering. This evil at the top of the pyramid or behind the last curtain is just sitting there waiting kinda like a lion or leopard to attack. When the time is right this evil will come out from behind the scenes. God save us all.
Lol
I wonder why Gates cried for more H1B visas at the first place…. Tech companies need foreign workers due to the market demands. There simply isn’t enough people qualified for the job. Keep in mind these “job killers” are using money out of their own savings, learning your language, paying taxes, supporting the US economy, paying full tuition and supporting your higher educational institutions. Fuck them, right?
Who owns/runs those companies listed above….
Keep working and voting. It’ll get better someday, right?
Well, then what about American companies outsourcing its own jobs to foreign nations? You got criticism for those rich and influential american businesses that seek workers outside US? Seems like they choose cheap labours over fellow americans.
I’m on an OPT and it is incredibly hard to get a job. Companies have to pay way more for international students because they have to spend thousands on immigration lawyers just to keep them working in the company. It is way easier for them to hire American citizens. The problem is that there are not enough smart Americans that can do the job because the education system in this country is mediocre, to say the least.
It’s difficult to explain these facts. In my University, each American had 3+ job offers even before they graduated. They even had to pay less fees compared to international students and some got scholarships too. The problem is that there were very few Americans in my calls. No one wants to study yet they want to get high paying jobs!
This article seems to be written by a person who has no understanding of the real situation. Author is crying about “Amazon and the likes” saving 25 million and “stealing” American jobs yet he fails to look at the billions of dollars of revenue these companies are generating and the amount of taxes they are paying to fund the social security of Americans. Also, H1Bs are the highest tax payers in the country with no benefits of paying these taxes. Very shallow article.
Madcon,
Write an article and describe your situation and experience as an H1b.
Students aren’t motivated and don’t work hard here. American kids have been living too easy for too long, so video games and cellphone games and social media are often the thing most “students” spend their time on. The education system may not be wonderful but it isn’t horrible either, we pump out plenty of smart educated people still, alot of them from foreign countries. If you spend much time in a hospital you see alot of Doctors of Indian or Asian descent. Our Doctor team for my daughter was made up of 5 minorities, and one white Doctor. This seemed to be the norm, these Doctors were educated in America. Work ethic has died to laziness and the altar of entertainment. I guarantee the great majority of students spend more time on social media and playing games, then studying. This factor alone is one of the big reasons Asians in America do so much better academically, even when they go to crappy k-12 schools. With the internet its easier than ever to become informed on topics, but it takes time, energy, focus, and alot of reading.
So I disagree with the premise that there aren’t enough smart Americans, there are plenty that could be smart, but the easy 1st world lifestyle has killed motivation for many. A sense of entitlement is strong from the poor to the wealthier. Students who view hard work, effort, and time spent on a discipline as prime importance will do well. I worked with foreign students many years ago, and most of them came from poor families and were highly motivated to do well. This used to be the story of the typical American as well back in the day, hard work was viewed as the key to success. Academics has been cheapened into a work permit of sorts, and again technology addiction is a HUGE problem.
Young men don’t tend to read much anymore b/c they are playing video games 40hrs a week, and when not doing that alot are staring at cellphones. A culture that is self-absorbed, entitled and views entertainment often in the form of screentime as they main motivators is going to fall behind. America’s culture is broken and almost no one here knows true struggle. So its no surprise that people that come from countries that have real problems like food, clean water, shelter, are willing to work as hard as possible to try and save themselves and their families. It doesn’t take much money made in America to send home to help support a family in India and pull them from abject poverty. Here people expect jobs on a platter, that people just hand them nearly worthless degrees in meaningless bullshit, and if not welfare, SSI, “free” this and that or try and live off their mommy & daddy.
That’s dangerously close to the kind of outsized propaganda which constantly streams forth from media. Sweeping generalizations regarding 300,000,000 very different people just do not apply. I have 4 nieces and nephews. Every single one of them has either a PhD, Masters, M.D. or other significant graduate-level education. Every single one received scholarship, and/or worked to graduate without debt. I’d be very careful before adopting the nonsense pushed by the very people who benefit from these phony programs.
Didn’t say Americans were not smart. That would, indeed, be a generalization. I said there are not enough smart Americans to run all the high tech companies. I stand by this because education from elementary school to high school is mediocre. No wonder why there is an idiot running the White House with a bunch of followers with no ideas or philosophy of their own. Just a herd that needs to hear from their idiot leader in order to know what to think.
Also, universities in the US have great programs that some people here take for granted. One of the great qualities of America was its tendency to accept immigrants with high skills knowing that they would contribute positively.
And finally, a skilled American worker would get a position in a company way easier than a skilled OPT worker. The problem, again, is that this country lacks smart Americans. As easy as that. So, to the author, don’t go complaining that we are taking American jobs away. It is a ridiculous argument if you know the topic. Clearly you don’t.
More propaganda issues forth from someone who makes wide, sweeping generalizations about millions – tens of millions of people in the third most populous country on earth? Many of us never attend government schools. Many of us are privately educated in excellent schools and universities sans indoctrination. That’s the thing about “education”. Where there is a genuine thirst for knowledge, individuals will and thankfully, now, can learn without the indoctrination. I do not know how you can state such inanity about Americans not being “smart”. Perhaps you have not had the benefit of moving in the circles in which others do?
Why are you here studying if the system is so mediocre? Go home foreigner.
Thanks for shining a bright light on this flagrant abuse of American generosity. Along with eliminating the OPT, let’s include the panoply of “study” visas which lead to stapled Green Cards. There is no such thing as an American who won’t do a job.
Washington, D.C. may not have the homeless population San Franshitsdo does, but it certainly enjoys the sensation of crapping all over Americans’ dreams and hopes.
Legitimately curious, how does a study visa lead to a ‘stapled’ green card? The odds for anyone who isn’t highly skilled are extremely low. I was an international student at some point and said goodbye to plenty of people who had to leave after their visas expired.
I guess the same way half of STEM graduates who are American citizens do not get jobs in their fields? “Highly skilled”? What is that? It’s whatever the HR Dept. wants it to be.
Once again the circle jerk agenda in control behind the curtain . Wall Street to K-Street to Capitol Street . Now “THEY” pull this fast one with an end around run past congress . I wonder how many Congress parasites made considerable gains from investments in the companies while said companies shatter the futures of good American educated young people ? Considering at least half of the members of Congress are millionaires it’s probably a long list . Like the list of those members who created a fund to pay off their victims of sexual workplace misconduct ??? .
One would think the president that ran on Making America Great Again would be more aggressive in matters like this .
Even on a lower scale of jobs , over the past 5 years we did the needed update remodel to our home floors , kitchen , roof and on all three projects we dealt with American independent business people right up to the start of the jobs . Then it was like a scene from the movie “The Alamo” completely overrun by Spanish speaking crews with one or two that were fluent in English (supervisors) .
We checked out several companies and noticed they are all staffed like that !
Take a ride around any highway road construction or utility work and all you see are five foot nothing Spanish speaking brown people . Nobody hires black or white people anymore for construction trades thanks to the flood of illegals available .
This too is no accident but by “CIRCLE JERK DESIGN”.
A design by another name would be called economic treason !
Democrats want illegals to eventually bring them into the fold as dependent leftist voters . Republicans want them for cheap labor . Wow a win win for Circle Jerk club members and a lose lose for the citizens of America who are taxed to fund this mess !
Not really a strong case to end the OPT program. Less than 1% of jobs go to international students. I encourage you to read the NFAP study on this. Furthermore, over 30 billion dollars come into the US economy from international students. That money doesn’t leave once it enters the economy.
Hmmm OPT existed before Obama, I used it myself after college during the Bush years. Guess what, I used that to eventually get citizenship, under Trump!! Why you hate on Obama so much?!
First reverse a linked list then talk ?
If USA stops OPT, nobody would be coming to USA to study and go back after paying $50,000 for tuition costs. USA will lose it’s technological prowess to China and India and redneck cowboys will be back riding horses and grazing cows!