Bernie Sanders criticizes H-1B visa program for displacing American workers with 'indentured servants'

The H-1B visa program is being criticized by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who claims it replaces "good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad." This issue is also at the center of a debate within the Republican Party.

"Sanders stated that the purpose of the H-1B visa program and other guest worker initiatives is not to attract the best and brightest, but rather to replace well-paying American jobs with low-wage foreign workers. The cheaper the labor they hire, the more money the billionaires make."

The tech industry uses a program that allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers for specialty occupations, which has faced criticism from the right for bringing in cheap labor from abroad to replace American workers. The self-described democratic socialist has a history of opposing this program.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, both appointed by Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, recently engaged in an intra-Republican debate over the significance of foreign workers in the tech industry.

"H1B is the reason I'm in America, along with many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla, and hundreds of other companies that made America strong, as Musk stated on X," said Musk.

The reopening of a disagreement among those on the right regarding the program and its purpose, whether it attracts top talent or serves as a tool for companies to obtain cheaper labor from India, who are bound to their job by their visa, has sparked controversy.

In 2022 and 2023, the top 30 corporations using the program laid off over 85,000 American workers while hiring over 34,000 H-1B workers. Additionally, 33% of new IT jobs are filled by foreign national guest workers. Sanders also mentioned layoffs at Tesla, one of Musk's companies.

"If this program is intended to import highly skilled workers in science and technology, why are H-1B guest workers being employed as dog trainers, massage therapists, cooks, and English teachers?" he questioned. "Is it not possible to find English teachers in America?"

Sanders acknowledged that there might be labor shortages that could be resolved by H-1B workers, but he advocated for significantly higher guest worker fees to finance opportunities for Americans and other changes, such as higher minimum wages and effortless job transfers.

He stated that it is never more cost-effective for a corporation to hire a foreign guest worker than an American worker.

In the 1990s, the "economic elite and political establishments" pledged that the loss of blue-collar jobs resulting from free trade agreements would be compensated by an increase in white-collar IT jobs.

He stated that the claim that corporations have exported millions of blue-collar manufacturing jobs to China, Mexico, and other low-wage countries, and now import hundreds of thousands of low-paid guest workers from abroad to fill the white-collar technology jobs that are available, turned out to be a Big Lie.

President-elect Trump had previously criticized H-1B abuse during the 2016 campaign, but Sanders' comments came days later, stating that he supports the program.

"I have numerous H-1B visas on my properties. I am a staunch supporter of H-1B. I have utilized it frequently. It is an exceptional program," he stated to the New York Post.