American Workers Losing Out as Immigration Policies Favor Foreign Labor, Senator Warns

Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri has warned that employment-based immigration policies are undermining American workers and the economy.

In a recent interview, Schmitt stated, “Not a lot of people want to talk about it, but the time is now. Working folks, the people I grew up with, they had this double whammy: their jobs were shipped overseas for cheap labor.”

He added that as American workers sought new employment opportunities, the country was flooded with illegal immigration while also facing a legal immigration issue. “Take the H-1B visa program,” he said, “where people who are well-qualified, engineers even, now compete with foreign workers brought in at a cheaper rate.”

Schmitt emphasized that many qualified U.S. Americans lose out to Chinese students on visas. “There’s a tax break when they graduate for corporations to hire them [legal immigrants], as opposed to American students,” he said.

The senator pointed to Federal Reserve data showing rent prices have risen sharply due to an influx of 20 million illegal immigrants over the past four years — the largest in U.S. history.

Schmitt cited Microsoft’s recent layoffs as an example: “Microsoft, which recently laid off 5,000 employees, is bringing in more than 2,000 workers on foreign visas. That’s a classic case of American workers being replaced by those who can be paid less.”

He called for reforms to the H-1B visa program to prevent foreign students from displacing U.S. graduates. “You see it in the numbers,” he said. “Some of the highest unemployment rates are for college grads coming out with engineering degrees.”

“Let me be clear,” Schmitt continued, “we tell people, go learn how to be an engineer. But that’s not very fair if you’re actually having them compete with cheaper foreign labor. It’s not because we don’t have people who do those jobs. It’s just they’re bringing in foreign replacement workers who will do it cheaper. And the American worker then has the indignity of training their replacement … plus maybe $200,000 in student loans that need to be paid off.”