In an interview with Fox News broadcast on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump said that the United States does not have enough talented workers to fill critical positions in the domestic market, thus defending the H1-B visa program for skilled workers, CNN reports, reports News.bg.
Pressed by host Laura Ingram, who asked if his administration would reduce H1-B visas due to concerns that it could lower American wages, Trump said: “I agree, but you also have to attract talent.“
When Ingram noted: “We have a lot of talented people here“, the president replied: “No, you don't have certain talents and people have to learn. You can't just take unemployed people and say, 'I'm going to put you in a factory where you're going to make missiles.'"
Trump pointed to the September ICE raid on a Hyundai plant in Georgia, where hundreds of South Korean workers were arrested and deported because of their immigration status, as evidence of the need for skilled foreign workers.
"They raided Georgia because they wanted the illegal immigrants out - they had people from South Korea who had been making batteries their whole lives. Battery manufacturing is very complicated. It's not easy, it's very dangerous, a lot of explosions, a lot of problems. There were about 500 or 600 people who were making batteries and training others. Well, they wanted them out of the country," Trump said.
His comments came just two weeks after he told reporters in South Korea that he is “strongly opposed“ to the federal crackdown on immigrants in the workplace.
In September, Trump signed an executive order imposing a $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications - part of his administration's efforts to control immigration and impose strict restrictions on the admission of foreigners.
The H-1B visa is valid for three years and can be renewed for another three. Economists say the program allows American companies to remain competitive and grow their businesses, creating more jobs in the United States.
In another part of the interview, Trump commented on the enrollment of Chinese students in U.S. universities, drawing a comparison with France: “I actually think it's good to have foreign countries. They're not the French. They're the Chinese. They're spying on us. They're stealing our intellectual property. property.“
When the host asked him if he thought the French were better, Trump said: “I'm not so sure.“