Trump to crack down on foreign workers

US President Donald Trump. Photo / AP

US President Donald Trump plans to sign an Executive Order in Wisconsin tomorrow that the White House says will make it harder for tech companies to replace American workers with cheaper foreign labour.

It will also strengthen rules barring foreign contractors from bidding on government projects, according to senior Administration officials.

The officials, in a background call with reporters, said Trump will direct the Departments of Labour, Justice, State and Homeland Security to crack down on fraud and abuse in guest worker programmes by issuing new immigration rules.

The President will also direct the Department of Commerce to review federal procurement rules and trade agreements with a view to putting American firms at an advantage when it comes to winning contracts.

The officials pitched the twin directives as benefiting working and middle-class Americans who have suffered for too long under unfair trade and immigration rules.

"This is the policy that ensures no one gets left behind in America anymore - that we protect our industry from unfair competition, favour the products produced by our fellow citizens, and make certain that when jobs open those jobs are given to American workers first," the White House said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear how much the Administration could accomplish without cooperation from Congress.

"Sweeping changes are going to require Congressional action," said Lynden Melmed, an immigration lawyer who had served as US Citizenship and Immigration Services chief counsel within the Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush.

However, industry experts said Trump's Executive Order was a good first step to protecting the US defence industrial base, and US firms that do business with the federal government.

"It's one of the few presidential exertions in recent time, that holds out the hope of saving US industrial jobs," said Loren Thompson, a defence industry consultant and the chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Virginia.

Although Trump vacillated on the question of whether he supported the H-1B programme as a candidate, he said repeatedly that he wanted American firms and American workers to carry out federal projects. The executive order prepares to make good on that promise after a series of reversals by the new president on essential questions of international economic policy.

"We're encouraged that this is an important first step. It essentially means the president is turning his words into action," said Scott Boos, a senior vice-president at the Alliance for American Manufacturing. He added, though, that "the true test" would come after the administration had completed its reviews and begun to propose new policies.

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White House officials singled out the H-1B visa for "high-skilled" foreigners in the science and engineering industries as the priority for reform, but said a comprehensive review could lead to changes in other guest worker programmes, including visas Trump's own company uses for foreign workers at his hotels, golf courses and vineyard.

Trump, who campaigned on an "America First" ideology, had promised to "end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labour programme".

His Executive Order would require the agencies to perform administrative reviews immediately and propose reforms to ensure that the H-1B visas are awarded to the most skilled and highest paid workers, officials said.

The officials said reform could first come through administrative changes, such as raising the visa application fees, adjusting the wage scale to more accurately reflect prevailing salaries in the tech industry, and more vigorously enforcing violations. It could also change the lottery system to give foreigners with US master's degrees a leg up.

The current worker visa programme has been diluted as rules have gone unenforced, the officials said.

Indian outsourcing firms such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, and Wipro currently receive the lion's share of the visas because they submit tens of thousands of applications to increase their chances. The firms did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Mike Emmons, a software developer in Longwood, Florida who was let go from Siemens ICN after training his foreign replacement in 2002, applauded Trump's Executive Order.

"It was the most depressing thing I've ever been through - having to train people to do my job, only so I could get laid off," said Emmons, 55, who now works for a Florida state agency. "After watching this for 14 years, what Trump is doing is a thousand-fold better than what Bush did, or Obama or what Hillary would have done. He's doing something for us."

Some advocates for H-1B visa reform cautioned against making rash changes without considering the ripple effect on the nation's green card system or employers at large.

"There are a handful of companies that have stirred controversy in this space but there are 27,000 other employers that still have to use this system," said Scott Corley, executive director of Compete America, a coalition of mostly tech companies advocating for immigration reform to benefit high-skilled foreign workers. "If you basically go in and take a sledgehammer to the programme without any thought for collateral damage, the cure can be worse than the ailment. Change needs to come. It comes down to how you do it."

Melmed, who also serves as counsel for Compete America, said the law does not give Trump much wiggle room to make meaningful change without Congress - though it could tip the scale in favour of foreign workers who hold advanced degrees from US universities.

"It is no secret who the President is going after," Melmed said, referring to the giant outsourcing firms. "Companies that pay low wages are going to face a difficult few years."

Ron Hira, a research associate with the Economic Policy Institute and an H-1B visa expert who teaches public policy at Howard University, called Trump's Executive Order a "step in the right direction" but it remains to be seen whether it "dislodges the stalemate that's in Congress right now."

Yesterday the US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it received 199,000 petitions for 85,000 slots during this year's H-1B visa lottery. Last year, the agency received 236,000 applications.