Trump’s support for H-1B reignites debate over skilled-worker visas

Washington: Days after US President Donald Trump defended the H-1B visa programme, leading Republican and conservative leaders have opposed it, calling for its scrapping. However, leading researchers and lawyers argue that the crackdown would only hurt the US economy and its interests. On Friday, Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X, reiterating her plans to introduce a bill to “ban H1B visas in all sectors” except the medical profession.

“Ending H1B visas will also help the housing market. Ending H1B visas mean more jobs available for Americans and more homes available for Americans…When Americans have good paying jobs they will be able to buy homes as long as they don’t have to compete with legally imported labor on visas and rich powerful asset management companies,” she added. In a video post on Thursday, Greene announced her bill proposals, allowing only 10,000 visas annually, down from the current 85,000 cap. She asserted that even the carve-out could be phased out over the next decade.

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Her bill would also take away from the citizenship path, forcing visa holders to return home. “These visas were intended to fill a speciality occupational need at a given time. People should not be allowed to come and live here forever. We thank them for their expertise, but we also wish them well so they may return to their own country,” she said in the video. Another Republican House member, Andy Ogles, also posted on X on Friday, “No more H1-Bs is a no-brainer. Let’s get it done.”

The developments come days after US President Donald Trump defended the programme, saying it’s needed to import talent. In an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Tuesday, Trump was asked if his administration planned to deprioritise H-1B visas. He replied, “You do have to bring in talent.” When Ingraham countered, “we have plenty of talent,” Trump responded, “No you don’t.” “You don’t have certain talents….And people have to learn, you can’t take people off an unemployment line and say, I’m going to put you into a factory. We’re going to make missiles,” he added.

Laura Ingraham, posted on X on Friday, responding to a CNN debate over the issue. “America’s survival depends on its importing an endless stream of foreign workers—supposedly all geniuses?” she asked. The White House clarified on Wednesday that it’s committed to cracking down on alleged abuses in the visa system, not scrapping the entire program. The White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted the clarification to Daily Wire, a news outlet, on X.

In a statement to the publication, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said that the administration was committed to “reforming the immigration system.” “In record time, President Trump has done more than any president in modern history to tighten our immigration laws and put American workers first,” Rogers said. “The $100,000 payment required to supplement new H-1B visa applications is a significant first step to stop abuses of the system and ensure American workers are no longer replaced by lower-paid foreign labor.”

Trump signed a proclamation in September by announcing a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visa applications. Last week, the US Department of Labor (DOL) also launched at least 175 investigations into potential abuses within the H-1B visa programme. However, leading researchers and lawyers have rejected the concerns over the H-1Bs as overblown and misleading.

A recent study by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, argued that H-1B visa holders expand the GDP the most, with an average H-1B visa holder increasing it by $500,000 after 30 years, while reducing the debt by $2.3 million Daniel Martino, the report’s author and Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, termed South Asian immigrants, especially Indians, the “most fiscally positive group.” He predicts that if the H-1B visa programme is ended, it would expand the US debt by $185 billion over 10 years while shrinking the economy by $26 billion.

The report also revealed that “Indian immigrants are the most economically beneficial immigrant group” in the United States, which reduces national debt and contributes to GDP growth. India-born workers received over 70 per cent of the total approved H1-B visas in 2024, primarily due to a huge backlog in approvals and a high number of skilled immigrants from India.

Anna K. Gorisch, the founder of Kendall Immigration Law, called the opposition over the H-1B visa programme “peak stupidity.” “It is tightly controlled and the opposite of “endless.” The attacks on LEGAL immigrants are wholly unjustified and anathema to the promise of America. The GOP will almost certainly lose seats in 2026,” she wrote on X on Friday.