Hawkeye Reporter

Senator Chuck Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, addressed concerns about U.S. tech companies’ use of foreign worker visas in a recent Q&A. Grassley explained that his committee oversees federal immigration laws, including nonimmigrant visa programs such as H-1B and L-1. These programs allow businesses to employ foreign professionals temporarily when there is a shortage of qualified U.S. workers.

Grassley noted that he has led bipartisan oversight efforts with former Senator Patrick Leahy and Senator Dick Durbin to address loopholes and prevent fraud in visa programs. He said, “The H-1B and L-1 programs provide a pathway for businesses to temporarily employ foreign professionals with specialized knowledge when there’s a shortage of qualified workers at home. It requires an employer to sponsor the visa holder; file required petitions with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the U.S. Department of Labor; and pay fees for the application process.”

He referenced a recent proposal by the Trump administration to increase the fee for H-1B visas to $100,000 per applicant. Grassley also highlighted concerns about major companies’ hiring practices: “Sen. Durbin and I in September wrote letters to 10 of the biggest companies in the country, including Amazon, Apple and Google, to get an explanation why they continue to hire thousands of H1-B visa holders while recent data show U.S. college graduates with majors in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields now face higher unemployment than the general population.” He pointed out that Amazon laid off tens of thousands of employees but was approved to hire over 10,000 H-1B workers.

Grassley called for more transparency from these companies regarding their recruitment practices: “Specifically, we want a full accounting about their recruitment practices; such as the number of H1-B workers they’ve hired, including salary and benefit disparities between visa holders and American workers; and whether U.S. workers were displaced when filing for thousands of visa petitions for foreign workers.” According to Grassley, about 700,000 people currently work in the United States on an H-1B visa, most from India and China.

On legislative efforts, Grassley stated: “I’m recharging bipartisan efforts to shed light on abuses and improve the H1-B visa system to stop the outsourcing of American jobs.” He cited past cases at Southern California Edison and The Walt Disney Company where American workers were replaced by foreign labor.

Grassley discussed new legislation: “That’s why Sen. Durbin and I recently reintroduced bipartisan legislation called the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act to provide protections for American workers and visa holders.” The bill aims for greater transparency in recruiting foreign labor, increased enforcement authority for the Department of Labor (DOL), new requirements on wages, recruitment processes, job postings on a DOL website, reforms prioritizing highly educated STEM applicants, time limits on L-1 visas, verification measures for foreign affiliates, and stronger penalties for wage violations.

“The bottom line is simple,” Grassley said. “American workers ought to come first.”