Bernie Sanders gets it wrong on H-1B too
Socialists are wrong about virtually everything. It’s no surprise, then, that democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has come out swinging against the H-1B visa program.
The program allows up to 65,000 foreign workers in “specialty occupations” with a college education and “practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge” to work in the United States. The tech sector is among the biggest beneficiaries of this program, which enables American companies to benefit from global talent.
The H-1B program has recently been the subject of much debate among supporters of President-elect Donald Trump, with some demonizing the program for allegedly undercutting domestic workers and allowing foreigners into America.
Others, including Elon Musk, defended the program. “Anyone — of any race, creed or nationality — who came to America and worked like hell to contribute to this country will forever have my respect,” he posted to X. “America is the land of freedom and opportunity. Fight with every fiber of your being to keep it that way!”
Trump ultimately agreed with Musk. “We need competent people, we need smart people coming into our country,” Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago, “we need a lot of people coming in.”
But Sanders came out swinging against the program.
“The main function of the H-1B visa program and other guest worker initiatives is not to hire ‘the best and the brightest,’ but rather to replace good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad,” he declared. “The cheaper the labor they hire, the more money the billionaires make.”
This is all nonsense. As David Bier of the Cato Institute pointed out in a 2024 blog post, “Indentured servitude is a contract to work for a single employer for a predetermined period without pay. H‑1B workers are not only paid — they receive wages in the top 10 percent of wage earners in the United States.”
Contrary to the lie that H-1B workers are stuck at the same job, “In fiscal year 2023, H‑1B workers changed jobs 117,153 times,” he noted.
In a strange case of horseshoe theory, the racist online troll Nick Fuentes tweeted his support for Sanders’ position on H-1B: “Bernie Sanders is right. Elon and Trump are wrong.”
No doubt, Fuentes and other MAGA figures agree with Sanders’ argument: “The answer is to hire qualified American workers first and to make certain that we have an education system that produces the kind of workforce that our country needs for the jobs of the future.”
The problem is that both Sanders and the protectionist right stop their analysis, such as it is, there. The optimal solution is to ensure that, yes, the American education system prepares Americans for the jobs America needs but also be able to tap the vast reservoir of talent around the world.
America doesn’t need to wait for the mythical world Sanders and the MAGA right imagines in which American workers fill any and all jobs immigrants currently do. It would be a catastrophe to strangle the dynamic American economy with restrictions and red tape.
It is a good thing that Trump, for the time being, recognizes this and is heeding the advice of the more market-oriented Musk.