Trump frames review of visa program as ‘America first’
WASHINGTON — Returning to a favorite campaign theme at a time when his domestic agenda has stalled, President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered a review of a visa program that he said has undercut American workers, declaring his move a “powerful signal” of his administration’s commitment to “finally put America first.”
The White House said the executive action was designed to return the H-1B visa program to its original goal, attracting highskilled immigrants to the United States in high-wage fields including the tech sector.
The order Trump signed would not make immediate changes in the program but would set up a longer-term review of how it works.
The administration’s critique of the H-1B program echoed complaints by some in the tech indus-
try that too many of the 85,000 visas allowed each year are scooped up by outsourcing firms that hire relatively lower-skilled tech workers, preventing firms from getting visas that they could use for higherskilled applicants.
The review of the H-1B program would be a “transitional step” toward a revamped immigration system, officials said.
Critics noted, however, that Trump was not cutting back on other guest-worker visa categories, such as the H-2B program for lowskilled non-agriculture workers, under which foreigners have been hired to work at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump said his trip to Kenosha, Wis., was in part to thank voters who had supported him last November. The state had been in the Democratic column for three decades in presidential elections until that point.
Trump has struggled to regain his footing since his bid to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act stalled out in Congress. The administration initially had planned for Trump to pivot in April from success on health care to tax reform.
Trump, though, claimed that Republicans were “in very good shape on tax reform.” In fact, the administration has not yet come up with a proposal, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin admitted Monday that the administration’s goal of a tax reform bill by August was unlikely.
Trump also repeated that he has not give up on repealing Obamacare. “Health care — we have to get the health care taken care of,” he said. “As soon as health care (is) taken care of, we’re going to march very quickly. We’re going to surprise you.”
The order Trump signed at a Wisconsin manufacturing firm initiates a separate review of government purchasing practices with the goal of more strictly enforcing “Buy American” requirements that officials said have been diluted over time by exemptions.
“The policy of our government is to aggressively promote and use American-made goods and to ensure that American labor is hired to do the job,” Trump said at the Kenosha plant. “It’s America first, you better believe it.”
Trump’s plan is consistent with the “Buy American, Hire American” credo, a staple of his campaign. Previewing the announcement, the White House distributed polling data demonstrating the breadth of public support for the concept.
The information was attributed to a Democratic pollster, The Mellman Group.
“Working-class voters ... Republican, Democrat, independent, are going to be the most enthusiastic to have guest-worker reform,” one senior administration official told reporters Monday.
Organized labor cheered the action, while the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was more circumspect.
“It would be a mistake to close the door on high-skilled workers from around the world who can contribute to American businesses’ growth and expansion,” the group’s senior vice president, Neil Bradley, said in a statement, while conceding the program “can be improved.”