My piece for @commonplc on Microsoft’s H-1B Double-Speak: Execs Bill Gates & Brad Smith told Congress they need H1B workers to address labor shortages
Microsoft’s own visa filings reveal its labor-shortage claim to be little more than a smokescreen
@VP keep challenging it
"It strains credulity to suggest that none of Microsoft’s 10,000 laid‑off employees—or the more than 100,000 Americans graduating annually with computer science degrees into a labor market where their cohort faces a recession-level 7% unemployment rate—were qualified or trainable for the jobs it filled instead with foreigners." @ronhira on why the Trump admin is right to crack down on Microsoft for the company's abuse of the H-1B system.
Ron Hira retweeted
"It strains credulity to suggest that none of Microsoft’s 10,000 laid‑off employees—or the more than 100,000 Americans graduating annually with computer science degrees into a labor market where their cohort faces a recession-level 7% unemployment rate—were qualified or trainable for the jobs it filled instead with foreigners." @ronhira on why the Trump admin is right to crack down on Microsoft for the company's abuse of the H-1B system.
Prevailing Wage is a ridiculously low $46,218
Entry-level accountants get $80,000
This UF LCA encapsulates the disgraceful @USDOL H-1B rules
Rigs H1B against American workers & students and underpays foreign workers
The University of Florida (@UF) just filed a notice of intent to hire an H-1B Financial Analyst
Worksite: 33 Tigert Hall, Gainesville, Florida
Salary: $64,928
Posting date: October 26, 2026
Requested employment period: February 2, 2027–February 1, 2030
Ron Hira retweeted
🚨 AMERICAN STUDENTS ARE WALKING AWAY FROM COMPUTER SCIENCE.
And universities are paying the price.
A new report from The Chronicle of Higher Education reveals:
• Oregon State lost nearly 1,000 computer science students in ONE YEAR.
• CS enrollment plunged 23%.
• Online CS enrollment dropped 30%.
• The decline contributed to a $19 MILLION budget shortfall.
• Nationwide, four-year college CS enrollment fell more than 8%.
For decades, Americans were told to study computer science because that’s where the jobs were.
Now graduates are struggling to find work, companies are moving technology jobs overseas, and AI is threatening entry-level opportunities.
Yet employers continue sponsoring H-1B workers and recruiting through OPT.
Here’s the question nobody seems willing to answer:
If American students are abandoning computer science because they’re worried about finding jobs, where exactly is the shortage of American tech talent?
chronicle.com/article/the-co…
The tech job market is collapsing for young grads
Yet universities continue to lobby to flood the job market with OPT and H-1B entry-level workers to undercut their own grads
chronicle.com/article/the-co…
The Tech Job Market has been in a deep jobs recession since 2023.
Firms max out on cheaper indentured H-1B and OPT to substitute for Americans.
Can’t compare high skilled unemployment rates to HS dropouts. Compare to like occs
Foreign guestworkers undercut job opportunities, wages, and working conditions for Americans.
Ron Hira retweeted
Get rid of these programs that bring in foreign workers at the expense of young Americans.
We stopped H-1Bs at our universities in Florida and other states should follow suit.
The tech job market is collapsing for young grads
Yet universities continue to lobby to flood the job market with OPT and H-1B entry-level workers to undercut their own grads
chronicle.com/article/the-co…
The tech job market is collapsing for young grads
Yet universities continue to lobby to flood the job market with OPT and H-1B entry-level workers to undercut their own grads
chronicle.com/article/the-co…
Ron Hira retweeted
For decades, American Workers have been forced to train their foreign worker replacements—all because companies abused the H-1B program.
Enough is enough.
Under @POTUS’ leadership, Project Firewall is bringing this to an end and ensuring Americans come FIRST.
Ron Hira retweeted
Congress Is Fully Aware of Problems in the H-1B program, but Doesn’t Want To Offend Big Tech cis.org/Miano/Congress-Fully… via @CIS_org
Professors often describe H-1B workers as "indentured"
These scholars talk to real H1B workers to id their working conditions
Here's one example from Dr. Roli Varma of UNM
spa.unm.edu/about/people/rol…
An investigative journalist should take Microsoft's bait. Show the public how it uses the H-1B program
- 80% of Microsoft's APPROVED new H-1Bs in FY24 were ENTRY- and JUNIOR- level workers
- 33% held no more than a Bachelor's degree
Most of these jobs could've been filled by the 10k workers it laid off in 2023 or US recent graduates
Sources: Bloomberg H-1B FOIA data & USA Today
"What was presented as Microsoft replacing 6,000 people who lost their jobs with 9,000 foreigners was, frankly, completely off-base."
Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft, gave his response to @BrendanBordelon about the Trump administration's claim that Microsoft was engaged in fraud when it applied for permanent residency for foreign workers.
🎧 Decoded: politi.co/4yxilIS
John is absolutely on point here
The H-1B Industrial Complex is trying to bamboozle you with a fake fix
Their think tank servants launder the nonsense
Congressional staffers are overworked and easily fooled by lobbyists
newsweek.com/h1b-visa-salary…
Raise the $60,000 value in H-1B DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. They could raise it to $600,000,000,000,000,000 and it would still do nothing. The lobbyists who wrote this are 12 steps ahead.
Ron Hira retweeted
newsweek.com/h1b-visa-salary…
Raise the $60,000 value in H-1B DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. They could raise it to $600,000,000,000,000,000 and it would still do nothing. The lobbyists who wrote this are 12 steps ahead.
Ron Hira retweeted
In 2023, the Biden administration was asked by a bipartisan group of Congresspersons to change the “dates for filing” date on the October 2023 visa bulletin to “current” so that the high skilled workers of America could change jobs and be shielded from deportation that might come from a future administration. The tech companies went to the White House and strongly opposed this proposal. Had this proposal been enacted, there would have been no basis for this DOL investigation because no one would have been on H-1B visas anymore.
"What was presented as Microsoft replacing 6,000 people who lost their jobs with 9,000 foreigners was, frankly, completely off-base."
Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft, gave his response to @BrendanBordelon about the Trump administration's claim that Microsoft was engaged in fraud when it applied for permanent residency for foreign workers.
🎧 Decoded: politi.co/4yxilIS