Re: “That’s the mentality that put US into this mess in the first place.”
I disagree.
Today, there are close to 1 million completely “average” foreign STEM workers in the USA, under H-1B, under OPT, and under employer sponsorship for Green Cards.
There are also several hundred thousand more completely average foreign STEMS who have already acquired a Green Card.
There is a massive oversupply of completely average foreign STEM talent in the USA, which has crushed the USA wage scale since 1999, and has also crushed the demand for American STEM graduates over 40 years of age.
Average American college students avoid STEM degrees because of the pay scale, and because of limited prospects after age 40.
I have worked with foreign programmers and they have a shelf-life. Corporations love them because they work cheap but hate them for language skills and social behavior. A VP will love them until they get complains about the rude or incomprehensible employee. Then they all get the boot. So it cycles.
They love the cheaper outsourcing to overseas but hate the unwillingness to change quickly. They are used to making last minute changes but foreign sources don’t play that.
We hired a 62 year-old programmer a few years ago and were happy to get him. He punched out at 72 when we tried to get him to learn Java.