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H-1B Impact: Are American Jobs Being Outsourced?
Aug 22, 2025
Are American jobs being outsourced? The H-1B visa program faces scrutiny as tech layoffs surge, yet foreign worker visas get approved. Is it an economic advantage or crushing the American dream? One expert breaks down the implications of legal immigration policies. #H1BVisa #AmericanJobs #TechLayoffs #ImmigrationPolicy
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0:00
time to put American workers first or
0:02
watch the American dream get outsourced.
0:06
After all, these are American companies
0:08
and they should be prioritizing the
0:10
American workforce. Now, here with his
0:13
analysis is Rudy Takala, an opinion
0:15
contributor for The Hill. Rudy, thank
0:18
you for being here and thank you for
0:19
discussing this issue. I appreciate
0:21
that.
0:23
Thanks for having me. So I want to get
0:25
your thoughts first of all about the
0:27
extent of this problem and the sheer
0:29
volume of these visa applications
0:31
because my understanding was when the
0:33
program was created it was supposed to
0:35
be temporary and it was supposed to be a
0:37
lastditch effort but now big tech giants
0:40
are using it left and right to
0:42
completely overhaul their workforce.
0:44
What does that tell you Rudy?
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Well, to me it looks like the bottom
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line is that the H-1B program is being
0:52
uh driven by an economic and corporate
0:54
elite uh whose motivations are
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principally economic, but they're
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putting an ideological mask on it uh
1:02
saying that they believe in some kind of
1:04
universal right for everyone to live in
1:06
America.
1:07
And of course, a lot of a lot of
1:10
leftists go along with that. But the
1:12
motivations for the people at the top
1:14
are principally economic. that's led to
1:17
where we are today. Uh which to clarify,
1:20
we don't exactly know where that is. We
1:22
don't know the exact number of H1B
1:24
holders in the United States. Uh the
1:27
best estimates put it somewhere around a
1:30
million. It could be more. Uh but uh
1:33
we'll go with a conservative estimate.
1:35
Uh and it's not just those. Uh since
1:38
2015, the spouses of H1Bs have also had
1:42
the right to work. And we likewise don't
1:45
have an estimate or we don't have the
1:47
exact number of those either as the best
1:50
estimates put it as high as 3/4 of a
1:53
million. So we have somewhere between
1:55
one and two million people uh working in
2:00
in in these positions in the United
2:01
States. And you might be asking where do
2:04
they come from? Well as of last year the
2:06
top country was India. The second was
2:08
China. Um, China obviously is a
2:12
totalitarian dictatorship and India is
2:14
allied both India and China are allied
2:17
with each other other as well as Russia
2:19
um South Africa and Brazil through
2:22
bricks. These are American adversaries.
2:24
So it really begs the question of how
2:27
this program benefits uh the United
2:30
States outside of a few corporate
2:31
elites.
2:32
Yes, it does. So to your point then, if
2:35
you talk to people who work in big tech,
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here's one thing they will tell you.
2:39
They'll say, you know, we have to do
2:41
this. We don't want to, but we have to
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because there are simply jobs that we
2:46
need to fill that we can't with American
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workers. So they make it about talent
2:50
and availability. What do you make about
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that argument, Rudy? Do you think it's
2:54
bogus and really just a cover, or do you
2:56
think there might be some truth to it as
2:58
well?
3:01
Do you know how many uh tech workers,
3:03
American tech workers have been laid off
3:04
so far in 2025? The answer is more than
3:08
80,000. We've laid off more than 80,000
3:11
Americans in the tech industry so far.
3:14
And at the same time, we approved three
3:16
times that number uh in H1B workers in
3:19
the same industry in 2024.
3:22
Um
3:25
also uh computer engineering is one of
3:27
the top uh areas of unemployment for
3:30
fresh college graduates. Um as of 2023
3:34
the unemployment rate was for computer
3:37
engineering graduates in the United
3:39
States was 7 and a half%.
3:42
Um so all those years of telling people
3:44
to learn to code
3:47
don't really seem to have paid off. And
3:49
now who's going to pay for these
3:50
American kids who can't get jobs both
3:53
now and in the future? It's their
3:55
parents. It's society. Um this So in
3:58
many ways the H1B program amounts to a
4:01
welfare program for big tech. America is
4:04
paying for it. We just don't know it.
4:07
Wow. Okay. So for those who want to
4:10
understand the crux of it, I want to get
4:11
to your point about how this is really
4:13
just crushing the American dream and so
4:15
many people in the working class. What
4:18
do you think? Actually, here's a better
4:20
question for you. Where do you think
4:22
this really goes? Is this just, you
4:23
know, is this just completely replacing
4:25
the American workforce? And what do we
4:27
do with thousands and thousands of
4:29
American workers, many of whom have real
4:31
skills and college degrees? Like, what
4:33
are the implications of this this kind
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of a a system that's in place?
4:38
Uh, it's I mean, it's very bad for our
4:40
economic interests. We have 2 million
4:43
people, up to two million people in the
4:45
United States working legally on these
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programs alone.
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And in in many ways, legal immigration
4:52
is at least as problematic as illegal
4:55
immigration. Uh these people vote. We
4:57
can't get rid of them once they're here.
5:01
So we the Trump administration has had a
5:04
good focus on illegal immigration, but
5:06
it should turn its attention to legal
5:09
immigration as well. And there are a
5:11
couple of ways it could do that. DHS,
5:14
the Department of Homeland Security,
5:15
could end these visa programs if it
5:18
chose to do so. And the Justice
5:20
Department could go after the employers
5:23
who claim they can't hire Americans. And
5:25
by the way, you know, those employers
5:27
include National Public Radio of all
5:30
places. You know, who would know that
5:33
journalists are apparently something
5:35
that we can't find Americans to uh we
5:39
can't find Americans to work in that
5:40
industry. Um the last thing I would add
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is that while the government hasn't been
5:45
taking action, um we see people taking
5:49
more of an interest in this at the
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grassroots level. There is a group of
5:54
tech people, anonymous tech people
5:56
who've created a uh website called
5:58
jobs.now now and they have a
6:01
corresponding Twitter account jobs now
6:03
PR uh which is interesting to look at uh
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because they post jobs that uh these
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companies are required to post for
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Americans to find but they try to hide
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them. So when Americans apply for these
6:15
jobs it it dums up the pro you know the
6:19
process for these companies so they have
6:21
to do more work before they can hire
6:23
somebody from abroad. and they tell me
6:25
they posted 3,800 jobs so far. And of
6:28
that number, do you know how many
6:30
Americans have been hired? Uh the answer
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is, as far as we know, none, which seems
6:37
like a, you know, legally problematic.
6:41
Okay. Look, I I appreciate you
6:43
highlighting this issue very much. It is
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so under reportported and underdised,
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but so vastly important. So, I want to
6:49
say thank you for your time today, Rudy.
6:51
I really appreciate it.
6:54
Thank you, Riley.
#Business & Industrial
#Jobs
#Politics