American workers struggling to find employment in the tech industry are ripping Democrats for protecting the massive flow of cheap, foreign labor into the country.
A coalition of Democrat-led states announced a lawsuit earlier in December to block the Trump administration’s $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas, claiming that U.S. employers are in need of the “highly skilled” labor provided by the H-1B visa system. American tech workers — many of whom are unable to find employment or have left the industry entirely out of frustration — say the lawsuit is the latest sign that the Democrat Party is no longer representative of the everyday working man.
“This is liberal states itching to ‘stand up to Trump,’ married by convenience to the Indian lobby and Big Business,” John, a cybersecurity professional in the Seattle area who has struggled to land a job for a year, told the the Daily Caller News Foundation about the lawsuit. John said Democrat claims about labor shortages in higher education are “crap” and that American citizens could “easily” be hired for these positions.
Like all five of the current and former tech workers who spoke to the DCNF, John wished to only go by his first name out of fear of reprisal from potential employers.
‘That’s Total Bullshit’
A coalition of Democratic attorneys general from 20 different states filed a lawsuit on Dec. 12 challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order establishing a $100,000 price tag on all new H-1B visas. Filed in federal district court in Boston by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and other liberal prosecutors, the lawsuit alleges the fee to be outside its congressionally authorized bounds.
The Democratic attorneys general — who argued the fee places too hard a burden on elite universities in need of foreign labor — also appeared to sidestep concerns that these visas take jobs away from Americans, noting in at least one press release that employers must certify that the employment of a foreign worker would not negatively affect the wages of a similarly employed American worker.
“That’s total bullshit,” Kevin Lynn, the founder of U.S. Tech Workers, an advocacy group for American tech employees displaced by foreign labor, told the DCNF.
Lynn argued that federal regulators aren’t remotely capable of ensuring that Americans aren’t hung out to dry by foreign workers.
“So imagine you’re at the Department of Labor and you get over a quarter million [Labor Condition Applications], and at the same time, according to the statute, you have only seven days to view that application,” the tech worker advocate stated. “All they have time to do is make sure the Is are dotted and the Ts are crossed, so there is no time to effectively evaluate the application.”
“This definitely tells you the Democratic Party is not the party of labor,” he stated, noting that many of the uber wealthy congressional districts heavily favored Vice President Kamala Harris in the last presidential election. “It’s obvious that the wealthy donor class are represented now by the Democratic Party, and also a lot of Republicans.”
A spokesperson for Campbell did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
Congress created the H-1B program in 1990 with the intent to utilize “highly specialized” foreign labor, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Although it’s a nonimmigrant visa, H-1B holders can eventually chart a path to legal permanent residence, allowing them to stay in the U.S. indefinitely.
The tech industry dominates the use of these visas, with tech companies accounting for nearly 70% of H-1B petitions annually, according to Nation Connections, a website dedicated to helping individuals navigate immigration laws in various countries.
India stands well above every other nation as the top source of foreign labor to the U.S., making up 72% of all H-1B recipients between October 2022 and September 2023, per a March 2024 report compiled by the Department of Homeland Security.
The H-1B program is incredibly popular among U.S.-based employers, with new visas capped at 85,000 a year and a lottery system that decides which foreign nationals obtain them.
However, the visa program has long been criticized by Trump and others in the White House for allegedly employing foreign workers at cheaper wages to the detriment of American workers. In September, Trump took a major step reining in the program by signing a proclamation that restricts entry under an H-1B visa unless accompanied by the $100,000 payment.
There is currently no fee for existing H-1B holders or those who submitted applications before Sept. 21, according to the administration.
“President Trump promised to put American workers first, and his commonsense action on H-1B visas does just that by discouraging companies from spamming the system and driving down American wages, while providing certainty to employers who need to bring the best talent from overseas,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told the DCNF.
“The Administration’s actions are lawful and are a necessary, initial, incremental step towards necessary reforms to the H-1B program,” Rogers continued.
Attorneys general from Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin are now challenging the order in federal court, claiming that there are nationwide labor shortages.
The Democrat attorneys general lawsuit isn’t the first court challenge against the $100,000 fee.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce — the world’s largest business lobby representing hundreds of thousands of different employers — sued over the proclamation in October, where the case is currently being litigated in federal district court in Washington, D.C., and presided by Obama-appointed Judge Beryl Howell. The massive business lobby argues that the order unlawfully overrides provisions in the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes it “cost-prohibitive” for companies to utilize foreign labor.
“This is about the corporate donor class versus the worker class,” Joseph, another tech worker who has struggled to find gainful employment, told the DCNF. “Corporate donors, the large billionaires and millionaires and people making a lot of money off globalization, don’t want it to end.”
“These corporations buy these politicians to bring in this cheap foreign cheap foreign labor, illegal and legal, to depress American wages,” Joseph continued. “It’s a worker issue, not a MAGA issue, so that’s the biggest thing.”
Sean O’Brien’s speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention was a pivotal moment cited by Joseph and the other American workers who spoke to the DCNF about the changing political landscape. As president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the largest labor union on the continent, O’Brien made history as the first union leader to address the GOP convention and has since forged closer ties with national Republicans.
Many struggling tech workers said they aren’t looking for handouts from either party, but simply want political leaders to give them a chance to earn an honest day’s work.
“The H-1B program was created in order to cheapen the value of tech labor,” Riley, who left the tech industry entirely due to issues finding work, told the DCNF. “We’ve never had a shortage of tech labor in the United States, and so I don’t see the program continuing to be a good thing.”
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