Trump Targets Tech Teams (And Others) Through H-1B Crackdown

President Trump signed an executive order yesterday directing a full review of the H-1B visa program as part of a continued push to clamp down companies that hire foreign labor instead of American workers. The centerpiece of this directive – dubbed "Buy American, Hire American" – is a proposal to replace the H-1B lottery with a system that distributes visas on the basis of wages, skills, and education.

The thought process behind the proposed revision is that such a system would make it more difficult to use the H-1B program to replace American workers with lower-wage foreign workers. However, because the H-1B program already prioritizes highly skilled workers, it is unclear whether the president's proposal would actually solve the issue.