© Carlo Allegri/ReutersUS President Donald Trump
Trump's order, signed on Monday, requires federal agencies to prioritize US citizens and Green Card holders before outsourcing labor to foreign workers - who can come to the US on H-1B visas. Use of these visas is common in the tech sector, and 180,000 of them were issued last year, according to State Department statistics. Government agencies will now be required to conduct an internal audit to make sure "only United States citizens and nationals are appointed to the competitive service," per a White House statement.
Furthermore, Trump announced the firing of Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) chairman James Thompson and another board member, after it emerged that the federally-owned utilities company plans on replacing more than 200 American tech workers with foreign contractors on H-1B visas. Trump also slammed TVA CEO Jeff Lyash for taking an annual salary of $8 million amid the outsourcing push.
"Let this serve as a warning to any federally-appointed board. If you betray American workers then you will hear two simple words: 'You're fired,'" Trump said, after signing the order, in a throwback to his 'Apprentice' catchphrase.
Though Trump does not have sole authority to fire Lyash, he promised to get "rid of him, in one form or another."
Immediately after the ceremony, which was attended by a group of American tech workers who had been campaigning for H-1B visa restrictions, the TVA announced that it was looking "forward to working with the White House," and supported the executive order. During the signing, Trump was informed that Lyash had called and indicated he would "reverse course" on hiring foreign workers, prompting cheers from the tech workers present.
"Now maybe he'll take a major cut in salary," Trump quipped.
Trump has long been known as an immigration hawk, and the struggle to build his long-promised Mexican border wall helped define the first two years of his presidency. However, his attention has been focused on legal immigration as of late, and in June the president suspended new temporary visas for foreign workers through to 2021.
The suspension, as well as Monday's executive order, come as the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns wreak havoc on the US economy. Though down from an all-time high of 14.7 percent in April, the unemployment rate currently stands at just over 11 percent, a figure unseen since the Great Depression.
Reader Comments
R.C.
A valid hypothesis for why this phenomenon is happening is UN infiltration of local and regional governing bodies by foreign-born technocrats with the goal of implementing Agenda21.
I wonder why someone from another country would want to come here and boss other people around like they do. It's a character defect, IMO, to want to boss anybody around. It is even more so when done by carpetbaggers.
But really: sorry to hear.
R.C.
We moved from Cal. to Florida ~ 65 with the space programs, like almost all of my friends here - most of whom are still here! My father was like the only engineer at either KSC or CCAFS who did not have a college degree - he went from Korea USAF to a rocket engineer. He worked at Sunnyvale, et al., then Vandenberg & Edwards, and then we moved here with the blooming of our space industry.
When my little sister started elementary school ~ 67, my Mum began commuting to FTU (now called UCF) and attended college full time while raising 4 kids. She was
Summa Cum Laude#1 in her class in both math and computer science engineering. (Obviously, she ain't a ditz.) Also still looks great - way better than any of her kids (my sisters were / remain jealous) I saw a pic recently of an 'aging with class' brunette actress the other day which reminded me of her - can't find it.Whatever.She became the highest ranking lady engineer at KSC (she was originally the only one) until she retired. She remains the smartest person I've ever met.
For me? Ladies gotta have smarts .
R.C.
My current frustrations are based in ignorance of the field on the part of a certain female who is top manager. It's more of a clique. The owner is Italian, and she is Italian.....therefore......
The frustrating part is that this company has been around since to 40's and only recently got bought by a group of 'investors'. It's bottom line all the way. Seems more to be 'get rich quick and sell', than 'rebuild a company that had a long tour of good quality products'. That doesn't bode well for American Industry.