Senator Bernie Sanders introduced an amendment to the Laken Riley Act aimed at reforming the H-1B visa program, arguing it primarily serves to replace American workers with lower-paid foreign guest workers. He contends these workers are often exploited, akin to indentured servants. “The main function of the H-1B programme is not to hire ‘the best and the brightest’ but rather to replace good-paying American jobs with hundreds of thousands of lower-paid guest workers from abroad who are often treated as indentured servants. The cheaper it is to hire guest workers, the more money the multi-billionaire owners of large corporations make,” Sanders, 83, said on the Senate floor earlier this week.
Sanders directly challenged Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s support of the H-1B program, questioning why Tesla laid off thousands of American workers while simultaneously seeking to hire H-1B visa holders. He cited examples of Tesla hiring H-1B workers for significantly lower salaries than typical for similar positions in the US. He argued that the program is being used to drastically reduce labor costs for corporations, rather than filling genuine skill gaps.
“They are two sides of the same coin. If there is truly a major shortage of skilled tech workers in this country, as Musk has argued, why did Tesla lay off over 7,500 American workers last year – including many software developers and engineers at its factory in Austin, Texas – while applying to hire thousands of H-1B guest workers?” he asked.
Corporations engaged in mass layoffs should not be allowed to replace American workers with guest workers. “Finally, this amendment would prevent corporations from treating H-1B guest workers as indentured servants. Under current law, H-1B guest workers are often locked into lower-paying jobs and can have their visas taken away from them by their corporate bosses if they complain about dangerous, unfair or illegal working conditions,” he noted.
“That is unacceptable and has got to change. This amendment would make H-1B visas portable and enable guest workers to easily change jobs,” Sanders said.
Sanders’ amendment proposes these changes:
Increased H-1B Fees: Doubling the fees corporations pay to hire H-1B workers, generating an estimated $370 million annually for scholarships for American students in STEM fields.
Higher Prevailing Wages: Requiring corporations to pay H-1B workers at least the median local wage for their position, preventing wage undercutting of American workers.
Protection for American Workers: Prohibiting companies from replacing laid-off American workers with H-1B visa holders.
Worker Protections: Making H-1B visas portable, allowing guest workers to change jobs and escape potentially exploitative working conditions.
Sanders criticized claims of a tech worker shortage, citing data showing numerous American STEM graduates are unemployed. He pointed out that many top H-1B employers are outsourcing companies (“body shops”) that facilitate both domestic and international job outsourcing. He highlighted examples of H-1B workers being paid significantly less than American workers in comparable roles, such as software developers in Dallas and accountants in Houston.
