Donald Trump, in addition to the controversy over building a wall on the border with Mexico, caused another controversy recently when, according to a report by Fox News on March 3, he changed his position on H-1B visas during a debate. H-1B visas allow foreign workers with bachelor degrees in “specialty” occupations to work in the United States temporarily.
Those jobs, in the information technology field and what are referred to as STEM jobs — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — became an issue with a report of the firings of American workers at Disney in Florida (New York Times, June 3, 2015). The American workers were forced to train their foreign replacements and then they were fired.
The fraud and abuse in that program are rampant and are discussed extensively and convincingly in the book “Sold Out” by Michelle Malkin and John Miano.
In view of that, it is disturbing to see that a bill was filed last year that would triple the number of those controversial visas. Among the 13 co-sponsors of that bill, called the “I-Squared Act of 2015,” are U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and presidential candidate Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
How is it that a Maine Senator promotes a bill that would take jobs from Mainers, especially students who have studied long and hard to prepare for those valued STEM jobs upon graduation?
Robert Casimiro, Bridgton
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