It’s more than just programming/IT that gets the guest worker treatment - it wouldn’t stay there(if it was) given the incentive to expand. These programs are government interference with the job market, plain and simple.
The market would still figure out a way if the people had to make the effort to immigrate, have a pathway to citizenship, and the desire to become a productive US citizen. These are the kind of people that would want to start businesses, create jobs, and bring new ideas to the US.
I object to them out of the fraud that they create in the first place. If you want to suggest that it’s sour grapes about not being able to demand a high wage, then why would the guest worker be preferred for the same/lower skill level at the same wage? They don’t become citizens, they have significant barriers about switching employers, and are treated similarly as illegals are treated.
Sometimes the reputation of foreign workers as working harder spreads. I have seen that happen at a large outfit where we hired a draftsman from some Eastern European country. He was exceptionally good, so they hired 2 more from the same country, and those 2 turned out to be below average.
Same thing happened when I was hired way back in 1963 at a machinery builder outfit as a mechanical engineer. My boss liked my work so much he went out and hired 4 more from my country. What employers forget is that is that all people from any country are not the same.