It's not a ridiculous term. Many companies abuse the H1B visa program to keep wages down at the expense of pretty much everyone but corporate interests that save a little money. It's terrible for the visa holders as well, they get stuck in shitty positions with low pay.
And yes, the government does in fact have the right to say who can come and work inside the country. That's sort of a fundamental right of a nation. If you don't have that, you essentially don't have a nation at all.
How else would you call companies that take the majority of all H1-Bs issued, then turn around and resell newly minted immigrants' services to other companies?
There're a lot of companies of different sizes that legitimately bring foreigners to fill the gaps not filled by local workforce, but bodyshops named in GP's post aren't those companies.
It seems your point is that people should have freedom of movement and freedom to work in the US, and that is a laudable goal I think many here are sympathetic to.
But that is not the issue being discussed. Visa abusers are companies that use the poor design of the H1-B visa system to underpay engineers (which many argue suppresses wages in the market at large). Because H1-B visa holders cannot easily switch employers while keeping their visa, their employer has extreme leverage over them, which they use to underpay pay them.
> But that is not the issue being discussed. Visa abusers are companies that use the poor design of the H1-B visa system to underpay engineers
It is the very H1B limit that underpays engineers, by making it harder to foreign engineers to pick employers appropriately. All the restrictions on H1B lower their wages by design.
It is not the goal of this change in policy to help foreign engineers. They dont have a voice or a vote here.
It is not the goal of this change in policy to help americans. Providing cheaper labor will either cheapen or widen products offered, much like the importation of anything else.
It is not the goal of this change in policy to help or harm companies. It harms some as much as it benefits others. Its just picking different.
It is not the goal of this change in policy to help american software engineers. The corollary of the one above is that if higher talent comes, wages of higher talent will go down, and wages of the less skilled will go up.
Let it be very clear that in any effect, the only true effect of a change of policy like this is to provide a warm filling in the chest of those who do not understand the economic implications of it.
