Suspend OPT program so American college grads can find jobs.

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“On June 22, President Trump signed an executive order suspending most guest worker visas until the end of the year. This unprecedented move will preserve more than 500,000 jobs for U.S. citizens, tens of millions of whom remain unemployed due to the COVID-19 shutdowns.

The president deserves considerable praise for his decision. But there’s more he can — and must — do more to help American jobseekers, especially recent college graduates like me who are entering the worst labor market in nearly a century.

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Employers won’t even grant interviews — much less job offers — to many 2020 graduates. Yet they’re still hiring foreign workers in droves.

President George W. Bush created the Optional Practical Training, or OPT, program in 2008. The program lets foreign students stay and work in the U. S. for up to three years post-graduation, instead of returning to their home countries when their F-1 student visas expire.

The reason? A cheap labor program that incentivizes corporations to hire foreigners instead of Americans.

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The deal is even sweeter for foreign graduates who complete degrees in science, technology, engineering and math — the “STEM” fields. These folks can extend their OPT employment authorization for an additional two years if they complete a master’s or doctorate.

Corporate lobbyists argue we need these foreign grads to plug gaps in the labor market. They claim there aren’t enough qualified Americans to fill job openings, especially in STEM fields. That’s patently absurd.

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Even before the COVID-19 pandemic caused record layoffs and froze hiring at many businesses, American college graduates struggled to find decent jobs. More than four in 10 experienced “underemployment” — taking jobs that don’t require a college degree — after graduation, according to a 2018 report from consultancy Burning Glass Technologies. Think of the classic example of graduates who end up working near-minimum wage jobs as baristas or waiters.

Fifty-one percent of biological and biomedical science degree holders, 40% of physical science majors and 39% of math and statistics majors face underemployment, according to that same report. About half of all STEM graduates don’t take jobs in their fields.

COVID-19 merely exacerbated this problem. And the OPT program makes recent American graduates’ job search even harder.

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OPT lets employers circumvent immigration caps and hire foreigners in unlimited numbers — padding their bottom lines and displacing American workers in the process. As the American Worker Coalition has pointed out, employers don’t have to pay Medicare and Social Security contributions for OPT employees, which amounts to a 15.3% tax incentive per foreign employee who’s hired in place of an American. No wonder the OPT program grew 400% between 2008 and 2016.

This perverse tax incentive robbed Social Security, Medicare and federal unemployment funds of $2.4 billion in fiscal 2017 alone.

President Trump’s recent executive order ended the H-1B, H-2B, J-1 and L-1 guest worker programs, which collectively brought in roughly half a million cheaper foreign laborers each year. About 80% of H-1B visa holders make less than their American counterparts for the same job.

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But the order didn’t touch the massive OPT program. In 2018 alone, the most recent year for which data is available, over 200,000 F-1 student visa holders had OPT authorization. As long as this cheap labor pipeline exists, American college graduates will remain at a disadvantage in the hiring process.

The blame rests with the Washington insiders who created a guest worker system that destroys young Americans’ career opportunities, all to boost the profits of the world’s richest companies. Joe Biden even recently claimed that guest workers on H-1B visas “built this country.” For context, Congress created the H-1B program in 1990.

President Trump did the right thing by temporarily suspending most guest worker visas. Now it’s time for him to help America’s newly minted college graduates recover from the COVID-19 recession — by ending OPT and other guest worker programs that steal millions of jobs from citizens and dramatically depress wages for American families.”

“Suspend OPT program so American college grads can find jobs,” by Nick Reidy

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Please use Example below to Call and Email Your Repressive:

Hello Representative,

I am an American Worker and I demand OPT, J1 and H4EAD programs to be terminated immediately! Current Health and Economic Crisis is no time to utilize Foreign Graduates, Foreign Doctors and Foreign Spouses! Americans should come first for every job! In current Economic Crisis these programs are inappropriate and absurd!

I Thank President Trump for June 22 Immigration Order! Americans welcome it, but we need more! I demand USCIS suspends renewals and rescinds existing H-1B, OPT, L1 and H4EAD visas to open up Corporate jobs for 40 Millions of unemployed Americans! Americans are suffering through the worst job market in our nation’s history and desperately need these jobs!

For Americans to lead in this data-driven way of life and to prevent American Professional Jobs from being outsourced, we MUST migrate the control and ownership of All American data back to America — in other words, AMERICAN WEALTH back to every American! Because American Data is a Foundation of the American jobs, Data Locality – when Data of the American Citizens is handled by the American citizens and stored on American soil, is Fundamental for American jobs growth! Don’t export American Data Overseas!!!

President Donald Trump and US Government must UNITE with American Workers – so OUR HEARTS BEAT AS ONE – and TERMINATE H-1B, L1, J, OPT, and H4EAD Foreign visa workers programs; and introduce American Data Locality laws – TO OPEN UP JOBS FOR unemployed American Professionals and Graduates! America is reopening and American Workers need jobs the most!

Thank you, American Worker

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