For Donald Trump, Time is Up on Hire American

Joe Guzzardi
NOOZHAWK
October 4, 2020

Three years ago, President Donald Trump issued his “Buy American, Hire American” executive order. But as the Nov. 3 election draws closer, many critics insist that he has come up short on his promise to “hire American.”

Trump’s myriad critics cynically joke that COVID-19 has been more effective at slowing the foreign-born worker influx, especially in the tech sector, than the hapless White House.

Through executive order, Trump pledged to protect American workers’ economic interests by creating tighter labor markets. Fewer international employment-based visa holders mean that U.S. workers will benefit from a more limited labor pool.

But in the end, the pandemic did more to help U.S. tech workers unfairly forced to compete with H-1B visa holders than Trump’s administrative bluster.

Because international university student enrollment has dropped precipitously to about 150,000 from the 2019 level of 400,000, future opportunities for U.S. graduates will increase dramatically.

Sept. 10 Bloomberg article, “COVID-19 Interrupts Flow of Foreign Students to U.S.,” panicked the pro-immigration lobby of universities, cheap labor-addicted corporations and immigration lawyers.

An Institute for International Education study that polled 520 U.S. universities and colleges found that about 50 percent reported international enrollment declines, some of them steep. The Bloomberg reporter noted that many international students, who arrived on F-1 visas, decide to “stick around.” Therein lies the rub.

The F-1 student visa originated in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. As originally intended, a student would secure his F-1 visa, come to the United States, earn his degree and then return to his native land to improve his country’s economic future.

Today, however, an F-1 student who graduates with a science, math, engineering or technology degree (STEM) can apply for an Optional Practical Training (OPT) permit that allows him to work in the United States for three years. At that

In other words, the F-1 visa, which initially had to be renewed annually, has become, in some cases, the first step in a path to citizenship.