Posted originally on the CTH on December 29, 2024 | Sundance 

When I read the New York Post article proclaiming that President Trump supports the fraudulent system known as H1B visa hiring, I knew something was amiss because we previously looked at Trump’s various business hires and use of the visa process.

Apparently, the NY Post called President Trump to get him to weigh in on the controversial subject that has been triggered by Elon Musk saying he would “go to war on this issue” to maintain the H1B visa system -and subsequent foreign employment for tech skilled workers- his various companies depend upon.

Here’s the topline takeaway from the article that has triggered many:

(NY POST) President-elect Trump told The Post Saturday he supports immigration visas for highly skilled workers, appearing to side with Elon Musk in the roiling intra-MAGA debate on the issue.

“I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them,” Trump said by phone, referring to the H-1B program, which permits companies to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations.  

“I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program,” added Trump, who restricted access to foreign worker visas in his first administration and has been critical of the program in the past. (more)

However, if you go to the Dept of Labor website, search or download the database of H1B employment, specifically filtering to Trump’s various companies, what you will discover is that Trump Inc doesn’t use the H1B visa system at all. [Check for Yourself Here]

How does this reconcile? Well, having previously looked at the visa use by President Trump in his various companies {SEE HERE}, I can confidently assert (Occam’s Razor) that within the interview President Trump conflated H2B temporary worker visas, which he does use in his service industry, with H1B visas which he does not use.

The H-1B program applies to employers seeking to hire nonimmigrant aliens as workers in specialty occupations of distinguished merit and ability. At least that was the intent of the program before it was abused by companies who saw the opportunity to avoid domestic market wages and find alternative cheap sources of skilled labor in the tech sector. That abusive ‘labor diversion’ process has now expanded to find H1B claims in other sectors.  So much so, there are now a myriad of companies requesting H1B status employees for their various interests.

The H2B program applies to employers seeking to hire nonimmigrant aliens as “temporary workers” mostly in the service industry where extreme seasonal fluctuations in business make it challenging to hire from a very limited market base.  H2B workers are found in hotels, resorts, restaurants and service companies anywhere you find big seasonal shifts in service businesses, like Trump resorts.

As previously noted, Does the word “Snowbird” ring a bell?  Florida has a “tourist season” which runs from (generally speaking) just after Thanksgiving to Easter annually.  January, February and March are the peak.  The first Monday in February is the absolute peak as almost every time-share and hotel unit flips that week.

The volume of work within the service and hospitality industry doubles during the tourist season, and those businesses who hire within the general labor market struggle to increase their labor in relationship to the increase in business.  In addition, local workers looking for employment are reluctant to take temporary or “seasonal” jobs, and prefer longer term -more stable- employment.

Many businesses need to double, or in some cases triple, their workforce in order to meet the business demand. As a consequence, many companies, including Trump owned resorts, have used H-2B visa workers to fill the gap between large fluctuations in business and the needed staffing shortfalls.   From my own experience, many of the workers are students from South America (Argentina, Brazil, etc) who take the seasonal jobs Nov/Dec – March/April between their college seasons – and then return home.

Bottom line – President Trump is referencing H2B visas which he does use, and not H1B visas which he does not use.  Whether President Trump conflated the issue, or whether the Murdoch owned New York Post intentionally constructed their questioning to create a clickbait controversy, is entirely up to the reader to determine.  I think it’s likely a combination.

♦ All of that said, the issue of H1B replacement workers displacing American workers is not going away regardless of how uncomfortable it makes the Silicon Valley crowd.  Many highly skilled Americans have been impacted by the issue of H1B replacement, and the inherent fraud within the special interest employment system is a critical issue for a large percentage of the MAGA base.

In fact, for context you might remember the 2017 Trump suspension of visas from Muslim countries.  In response to that suspension, the state of Washington filed a lawsuit against President Trump seeking an injunction to continue the visas.  The main subject of their opposition was the financial impact to Microsoft and the H1B visa use.

BYRON YORK, 2017 – “Why is Washington State mounting such a vigorous challenge to President Trump’s executive order temporarily suspending non-American entry from seven terrorism-plagued countries? Of course there are several lawsuits against the president, and there are lots of motives among the various litigants. But Washington State’s is the suit that stopped the order, at least temporarily. And a look at the state’s case suggests that, behind high-minded rhetoric about religious liberty and constitutional protections, there is a lot of money at stake.

Judging by the briefs filed by Washington State, as well as statements made by its representatives, some of the state’s top priorities in challenging Trump are: 1) To ensure an uninterrupted supply of relatively low-wage H-1B foreign workers for Microsoft and other state businesses; 2) To ensure a continuing flow of high-tuition-paying foreign student visa holders; and 3) To preserve the flow of tax revenues that results from those and other sources.

[…]  Washington State argued that its residents have suffered from the Trump order, or might suffer in the future, because some of the state’s biggest businesses rely on H-1B visas, which are often used to bring foreign workers to U.S. companies at lower wages than their American counterparts.

“The technology industry relies heavily on the H-1B visa program,” the Washington State lawsuit said. “Microsoft, a corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, is the state’s top employer of high-tech — or H-1B visa holders and employs nearly 5,000 people through the program. Other Washington-based companies, including Amazon, Expedia, and Starbucks, employ thousands of H-1B visa holders.”  (link)

Vivek Ramaswamy, David Sacks, Elon Musk (with his influencers) and the tribe in/around Silicon Valley, have placed their flag of influence on this H1B hill.  They are willing to do whatever it takes to retain this system, much to the angst of the MAGA supporters who have been victimized by it.

When a system has been so thoroughly corrupted as to now create harm, there should not be a great deal of controversy in suspending that system until the market can correct itself.  However, losing control of the H1B visa system is viewed by the Silicon Valley tech group as a non-starter position.

♦ It will be interesting to watch how Silicon Valley’s ally, JD Vance – a political entity wrapped in the cover of Hillbilly values, reacts to this H1B visa and immigration debate.

As we watch the arguments inside the H1B debate, it is worth remembering the group who promoted, pushed and ultimately influenced the JD Vance nomination consisted of: Charlie Kirk, Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Bill Ackman, David Sacks, Chamath Palihapitiya, Jacob Helberg and of course, Vivek Ramaswamy.  On the inside of the Trump orbit, the network had Donald Trump Jr also promoting JD Vance.

JD Vance was then invited to be an attendee at the June 6th San Francisco fundraiser for President Trump, hosted by Sacks and Palihapitiya, and that’s likely when the first one-on-one running mate discussion between President Trump and Senator Vance took place.

Usha Chilukuri Vance, the wife of Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, quit her job as a corporate litigator at DNC-affiliated Munger, Tolles & Olson, within minutes of hearing that JD had been selected as President Trump’s Vice-President nominee and running mate.  Usha Chilukuri-Vance worked in Washington DC for the firm.

The American workers who Silicon Valley advocate for replacing with foreign workers, are the proverbial “Saxons, with nothing to lose.”

The Big Tech group may not have initiated the background; in fact, the offshoring and replacement cycle was started many years before. However, when you strip a group of Americans of their value, label them, ostracize them, ridicule them, belittle them and then denigrate them for failing to support your abuse, think “rust belt”, you create a group of Americans with nothing left to lose.

Calling people “racist” and “nativist” who voted for President Trump specifically on this issue is not going to work. Musk et al should be very aware that this H1B debate is targeting the “nothing left to lose” American team.

If they think their immigration position is both zero-sum and survivable, think again. There is much for them to lose. The true zero-sum position is already held by a much bigger tribe of American workers who truly do have nothing left to lose.

Silicon Valley ends up fighting an army that will never concede because they have already been stripped of everything they hold dear.

Beware the wrath of the angry Saxon. This immigration topic is Musk, Ramaswamy and Sacks’ first trip into what they call ‘flyover country.’ They are experiencing strong MAGA pushback, something very new and uncomfortable for them, likely for the first time; hence, their emotional reactions.

We understand the UniParty is smiling as they see us debating this issue; however, if Making America Great Again doesn’t benefit working Americans, then what exactly is the point.