H-1B Visa Reform Actually Needed... But Trump Looks Set To Punt It

... the program has moved almost entirely away from its original goals. One aim was to import workers when employers couldn't find qualified Americans. The second was to cap the number of H-1B holders, since both the bill's drafters and industry lobbyists wanted companies to bring in "talent" via green cards and help them become citizens, rather than rent them.

The result instead has been the creation of a large industry of foreign workers who largely work abroad. Not only do they undercut US wages and eliminate entry-level jobs, meaning the US is no longer developing its own tech professionals, but the fact that much of the work is done overseas also results in reduced taxes to states and municipalities.

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In the U.S., outsourcers bring staffers into the country on work visas, train them in the tech departments of leading corporations and then rotate them back to India where pay and living costs are lower. Outsourcing companies now get far more visas than traditional technology companies, according to data collected by Howard University's Ron Hira through Freedom of Information Act requests.