Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has flamed Elon Musk and the right over his support of H-1B visas, saying that the program in its current form is another tool for corporations to exploit workers and line billionaires’ pockets with the fruits of the abuse.
“Elon Musk is wrong,” Sanders said on social media on Thursday. “The main function of the H-1B visa program is not to hire ‘the best and the brightest,’ but rather to replace good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad.”
In recent weeks, Elon Musk has been speaking out vehemently in favor of H-1B visas, non-immigrant visas that allow U.S. companies to hire specialized workers from abroad on a temporary basis. The support for the program by Musk and others like Donald Trump has caused infighting among the right, which has otherwise adopted fascistic, rigid stances against programs of any kind allowing people from foreign countries to enter the country.
Progressives have argued that people on both sides of the debate are wrong, with one side making racist, xenophobic arguments and the other making an argument for labor exploitation. Instead, progressives say that the H-1B program, rather than being a pro-immigration program, is designed to allow corporations to pay workers less than the market rate while trapping them in demanding positions where they may be overworked.
In a statement, Sanders called out Musk and billionaires for being at the helm of yet another labor exploitation pipeline. He said that, instead, the H-1B program is in need of reforms to ensure fairer pay and treatment for foreign workers.
“Elon Musk and a number of other billionaire tech company owners have argued that this federal program is vital to our economy because of the scarcity of highly skilled American engineers and other tech workers. I disagree,” he said.
“If there is really a shortage of skilled tech workers in America, why did Tesla lay-off over 7,500 American workers this year — including many software developers and engineers at its factory in Austin, Texas — while being approved to employ thousands of H-1B guest workers” at relatively low wages, Sanders asked.
Economists and immigrant advocates have long said that the structure of the H-1B program is a lose-lose for foreign and American workers. As people on work-based visas, foreign workers on H1-Bs are especially vulnerable to employer abuse. At the same time, because it is legal for corporations to underpay workers on H-1Bs, American workers are harmed as the market value of their positions are depressed or corporations lay them off for cost.
This practice is particularly prevalent in Big Tech, where research has shown that companies aren’t using the visa program to fill genuine labor needs, but rather to lay off workers in well-compensated positions in favor of cheaper labor.
Sanders said that lawmakers must “significantly raise the minimum wage for guest workers” and “allow them to easily switch jobs” under the program.
“The widespread corporate abuse of the H-1B program must be ended,” Sanders said.
Other progressives have similarly pointed to corporations as the real issue in the H-1B debate, while also advocating for immigration policies based in humane practices, rather than perverse economic incentives.
“Since 1978, CEO pay has skyrocketed 1,085 percent,” pointed out progressive advocate and former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner. “Meanwhile, workers on H-1B visas have strict employment rules that limits their ability to leave their employers, which opens them up to exploitation: lower pay and more outrageous productivity goals. This is about corporations squeezing every last penny out of anyone and anything they can.”
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