The H-1B was intended to bring skilled labor and talent thought to be unavailable within the American workforce to the US . Silicon Valley companies in particular have been vocal proponents of the program, arguing that it supplies necessary talent to growing sectors that need the innovation and creativity.
But critics say the H-1B program is being exploited by companies to hire cheap foreign labor instead of their more expensive American peers. Anecdotes of American workers being forced to train the H-1B visa holders who are replacing them for lower pay have proliferated throughout the media in recent years.
Companies are required under federal regulations to declare that the H-1B workers they employ are not displacing American workers, but a loophole exempts them from that rule if the guest workers they employ are paid at least $60,000 per year.
Since American tech workers usually earn higher salaries than $60,000, companies are able to hire foreign workers at lower salaries than American ones, and need not prove they are not undercutting American labor. White House officials said on Monday that a full 80% of H-1B workers are paid less than the median wage for workers in their fields.
Trump has been a staunch opponent of H-1B visas since the early days of his campaign, despite his companies' previous use of the program.
"The H1B program is neither high-skilled nor immigration: these are temporary foreign workers, imported from abroad, for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay," Trump said in March 2016.
"I will end forever the use of H1B as a cheap labor program, and institute an absolute requirement to hire American workers for every visa and immigration program. No exceptions."
The criticisms have validity — a recent research paper found that companies' use of the H-1B program between 1994 and 2001 kept wages down by up to 5.1% and employment of US workers down by as much as 10.8%, even while it created positive effects on the US economy and corporate profits.