The TOI correspondent from Washington: “Train Americans and go home” will be the new mantra of the Trump administration with regards to foreign guest worker visa programs like H-1B. Scrambling to finesse resident Trump’s comment that America lacks “certain talents” for critical jobs following a meltdown in the MAGA base that views the remarks as a sell-out to big tech, top administration officials signaled a new policy that will effectively end H-1B visas transitioning into permanent residency and citizenship.“The President’s vision here is to bring in overseas workers… who have the skills. Three, five, seven years to train the US workers, then they can go home. The US workers fully take over,” Bessent said in an interview to Fox News on Wednesday after a torrent of criticism from MAGA talking heads, including Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who triggered debate by challenging Trump’s assertion that America is short of talent in some areas. Ingraham found support from Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, who called Trump’s remarks “a Davos dagger to the heart of MAGA,” as scores of MAGA propagandists unloaded on the president for entertaining thoughts of more foreign guest workers and foreign students. “Telling American workers they lack talent? Then importing H-1B hordes to ‘train’ them? It’s a sellout to big tech elites like Musk and Ramaswamy. We drained the swamp to refill it with indentured coders—wake up, DJT, or the base walks in ’26.” Bannon warned in his War Room podcast. Rushing to put out the fire, Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem echoed Bessent’s line, saying, “We’ve added integrity to visas—more naturalisations, yes, but only for vetted patriots. H-1B? Strictly for short-term skill transfers in factories and tech. No flooding; we’re deporting 1 million illegals monthly. President Trump’s vision: foreigners build our edge, then go home.”Under the current system that has been in existence for almost 35 years, H-1B visas are given for up to six years (three years initial plus three-year extension) and if the visa holders are in line by then for a permanent residency (green card), they are good to stay almost indefinitely till their case is decided. Up to a million H-1B visa professionals, including many tech elites leading US companies, have taken this route to American citizenship, adding billions in wealth to the US economy. But MAGA propagandists have kept up a relentless campaign against the current system — whose flaws are acknowledged by successive administrations — to call for an end to all guest worker visas, and in some cases, an end to even legal immigration that has been the bedrock of American economic might. Responding to Noem’s assertion that the Trump administration had sped up the process and added integrity to visa programs and green cards so that more people are becoming naturalised citizens than ever before, MAGA gadabout Laura Loomer, a raging xenophobe, wrote on X, “Disappointing. We are never going to mass deport the 65 million illegals at this rate.”The claim of 65 million (which would be 20 percent of the US population) is typical of hyperbole unleashed by the president himself, who claims up to 25 million illegal aliens (which would be about 7 percent of the current US population) entered the US during the Biden administration. MAGA hypernationalists are now flooding social media with such propaganda, replete with outright lies about H-1B visa holders bringing in their aging parents who instantly go on medicaid and social security at the expense of Americans. In one recent podcast, Ann Coulter, a raging xenophobe, claimed that Indians and Chinese H-1B guest workers “bring in their elderly parents so they can instantly go on social security… they can bring the whole village in who you’ll be paying for, America.” Fact: H-1B workers (who are themselves on temporary visas) and even green card holders cannot sponsor parents, who typically come on short term B-2 visas for up to six months, providing a tourist boost to the US economy. Reforming the current rules regarding H-1B and other visa programs will require legislative changes, but the Trump administration is known for executive tweaks to fulfill the MAGA agenda. The expanding MAGA crusade against all immigration, including legal immigration, and allegations that foreigners, even tourists, are “ripping” off the US healthcare system, is now causing the Trump administration to clamp down on all visas, including tourist visas. The White House has now doubled down on a State Department notification last week (reported in ToI) that US embassies’ discretionary powers to deny visas on grounds of obesity that could be a sign of other medical conditions, which could lead them to use medical and social welfare programs or be institutionalised once they are in US. “You must consider an applicant’s health. Certain medical conditions — including, but not limited to, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, cancers, diabetes, metabolic diseases, neurological diseases, and mental health conditions — can require hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of care,” a state department cable to US embassies worldwide warned.
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