Posted on 03/10/2016 9:46:06 AM PST by ConservingFreedom
Donald Trump won the South Carolina primary across the board, but he did particularly well with the 10 percent of voters who named immigration as the nation's top issue. In addition, some who named other issues -- the economy, national security -- were undoubtedly also concerned about immigration, and Trump's hard line likely helped him with them, too.
Which is why people who follow immigration closely were stunned Thursday night when Trump, at the Fox News debate here in Detroit, announced that he has changed his position on one key element of the immigration debate -- the use of H-1B visas to bring skilled foreign workers into the United States.
In the distant past -- say, yesterday -- Trump focused on abuses in the system, in which some big companies have been caught using H-1Bs to bring in foreign workers, force American employees to train their own replacements, and then pay the foreign worker less than the American had made -- all to do mostly routine jobs in the tech industry.
At his recent rally in Alabama -- the one in which Trump received the endorsement of Sen. Jeff Sessions, Congress' strongest voice against expanding the troubled H-1B program -- Trump also won the endorsement of some American workers who were victims of H-1B abuse at Disney.
"The fact is that Americans are losing their jobs to foreigners," one of the laid-off workers told the crowd. "I believe Mr. Trump is for Americans first."
In Detroit, Fox News' Megyn Kelly pointed out that Trump's campaign website has a strong statement against increasing the number of H-1Bs, saying it would "decimate American workers," and yet in one debate Trump spoke favorably of the program. "So, which is it?" Kelly asked.
"I'm changing," Trump said. "I'm changing. We need highly skilled people in this country, and if we can't do it, we'll get them in. But, and we do need in Silicon Valley, we absolutely have to have."
"So, we do need highly skilled," Trump continued, "and one of the biggest problems we have is people go to the best colleges. They'll go to Harvard, they'll go to Stanford, they'll go to Wharton, as soon as they're finished they'll get shoved out. They want to stay in this country. They want to stay here desperately, they're not able to stay here. For that purpose, we absolutely have to be able to keep the brain power in this country.
"So you are abandoning the position on your website?" asked Kelly.
"I'm changing it," Trump said, "and I'm softening the position because we have to have talented people in this country."
Trump's turnaround sent a jolt through the group of policy wonks and activists who have opposed Gang of Eight-style comprehensive immigration reform. "I've heard from enough tech workers displaced by H-1Bs that Trump's apparent answer very dispiriting," tweeted the writer Mickey Kaus. "Clarification?"
Mark Krikorian, head of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors reducing levels of immigration into the U.S., was not impressed. "(Trump) made clear in October he didn't believe what's in his immigration paper about skilled immigration," Krikorian told me by email after the debate, "and at the last debate he showed he buys the 'jobs Americans won't do' line on unskilled workers too."
"So will he 'clarify' his 'I'm softening' comment tomorrow, like he did after the October debate?" Krikorian continued. "His embrace of foreign tech workers is particularly shocking given that just days ago he featured American workers replaced by Disney at one of his rallies."
Even as Krikorian was typing his email to me, Trump was at work doing just what Krikorian predicted. "Megyn Kelly asked about highly skilled immigration," Trump said in a clarification statement sent to reporters about an hour after the debate ended. "The H-1B program is neither high-skilled nor immigration: these are temporary foreign workers, imported from abroad, for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay. I remain totally committed to eliminating rampant, widespread H-1B abuse and ending outrageous practices such as those that occurred at Disney in Florida when Americans were forced to train their foreign replacements. I will end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor program, and institute an absolute requirement to hire American workers first for every visa and immigration program. No exceptions."
It would be hard to imagine a quicker or more complete flip-flop. [...]
Maybe actually enforcing the law as written?
No, you really are just stupidly petty...obviously you fall for any distortion your rulers present to you. Try doing some real thinking in the future and you will not do so badly...and you will probably not be so damn petty.
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/immigration-reform: "We graduate two times more Americans with STEM degrees each year than find STEM jobs, yet as much as two-thirds of entry-level hiring for IT jobs is accomplished through the H-1B program."
What happened to the workers at Disney was legal under the law as written.
He stated the next morning that he wasn't talking about H-1B: "Megyn Kelly asked about highly-skilled immigration. The H-1B program is neither high-skilled nor immigration".
So what WAS he talking about? What's his new position and how was his old position different? Will he ever tell us?
you really are just stupidly petty...
You're the one vigorously dodging a simple question.
Cruz moves to the Right on issues and is called gopE trump moves to the left and is called a fighter for the worker. Operation chaos2.0
When we do find them, they're costing more than $150k per year.
T.Rump is just another politician who will say anything to get elected so he can use the power of the government to expand his own person power and wealth.
I just figured out what is going on with Trump. Remember the movie Trading Places where two rich guys made a $1 bet on how people will behave based on circumstances?
I think Trump made a bet with a fellow billionaire that he could win the GOP nomination while talking about his penis size, making his supporters take a loyalty pledge that makes them look like Nazis, supporting planned parenthood, giving money to the most likely democrat nominee, and calling his supporters uneducated. Looks like Trump is going to win that bet too!
And the issue was not H1B visas as used now as others have shown but much higher level people the program was meant for - the same as Cruz’s position.
ok break down the supposed STEM degrees. How many in each discipline?
Ask Trump - he thinks the fact he presented is telling.
There are not enough ENGINEERING and COMP SCI folks
So we have too many science (S) and math (M) folks - none of whom can do engineering or tech?
When we do find them, they're costing more than $150k per year.
And American workers shouldn't be paid that much?
Trump said in last week's debate: "I'm changing it, and I'm softening the position".
So what WAS he talking about, if not H-1B? What's his new position and how was his old position different? Will he ever tell us?
The numbers are bunk when broken down...which is why Trump was right to soften his stance on this.
The H1b workers are high tech. Donald needs to get his facts straight and articulate publicly where the hell he stands. He is losing people, especially those of us so affected by to many legal and illegal immigrants too fast.
Got it. Only Trump matters. Cruz flaws are to be ignored or whitewashed at all costs.
H1bs are good for six years? as I remember and they bring in highly skilled to displace our own highly skilled.
Learn the facts.
From Trump's link: "Engineering has the highest rate at which graduates move into STEM occupations, but even here the supply is over 50% higher than the demand. IT, the industry most vocal about its inability to find enough workers, hires only two-thirds of each year’s graduating class of bachelor’s degree computer scientists. "
And generally, unless you're a psych graduate who also knows how to code or set up infrastructure or databases, no, you cannot do that work.
On the price - let em make as much as they can. The good ones are 3x-5x more efficient and productive than offshore resources.
What "flaws" do you see in the following? From https://www.tedcruz.org/cruz-immigration-plan/:
Amend the H-1B visa program to fulfill its original purpose: Work with Congress to pass reform legislation for the H-1B visa program that will:
"Ted Cruz, Jeff Sessions Roll Out Antidote To Broken H-1B Program: American Jobs First Act" - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3371276/posts
From Trump's link: "Engineering has the highest rate at which graduates move into STEM occupations, but even here the supply is over 50% higher than the demand. IT, the industry most vocal about its inability to find enough workers, hires only two-thirds of each year’s graduating class of bachelor’s degree computer scientists. "
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