Bernie Sanders says that US citizens already struggling to get jobs would find it even more difficult to find work and that wage growth would be further suppressed by immigration reform that allowed an increase in the amount of foreign workers entering the country via US visas.
The presidential candidate nominee for the Democratic Party and Vermont independent senator’s comments put him at odds with tech companies and immigration reform advocates, which want the cap on these US visas ‒ H-1B visas ‒ lifted. Although Sanders is in favor of comprehensive immigration reform in general, including offering citizenship to undocumented immigrants already living and working in the United States, he regards visa expansion as nothing more than a way for big corporations to pay less money for foreign workers instead of hiring Americans.
“There is a reason that Wall Street and all of corporate America likes immigration reform. And it’s not, in my view, that they’re staying up nights worrying about undocumented workers,” Sanders said yesterday during a forum at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “There are corporations who would prefer to bring people from other countries into America for lower wages.”
Sanders pointed out that over 50% of African American youths are unemployed, as are 34% of Hispanic youths, meaning that efforts to expand foreign visas would be better spent performing a more exhaustive process to hire American workers. “I personally believe the business model of Wall Street is fraud,” he declared.