REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

President Donald Trump on Tuesday will order federal agencies to look at tightening a temporary visa program used to bring high-skilled foreign workers to the United States, as he tries to carry out his campaign pledges to put “America First.”

Trump will sign an executive order on enforcing and reviewing the H-1B visa, popular in the technology industry, on a visit to the headquarters of Snap-On Inc, a tool manufacturer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, senior administration officials said. “The buy-America waiver and exemption process has resulted in lost job opportunities for American workers, and the hire-American visa and labor policies have been unenforced or rendered inoperative.”

Under the Buy American section of the order, the White House is taking on three separate legislative provisions — the Berry Amendment, the 1994 provision in the Defense Authorization Act, the 1933 Buy American Act and the Buy America provisions of the Recovery Act — and addressing what senior administration officials say are much-needed fortifications. In practice, all the order he signed in Kenosha does on the H-1B issue is direct the heads of four federal departments—those of State, Homeland Security, Labor, and Justice—to review the policy by November and recommend changes. Trump’s executive order will call on government departments to introduce reforms to ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the “most skilled or highest paid applicants”, the official told reporters. The senior official said the end result of how the system currently works is that foreign workers are often brought in at less pay to replace American workers, “violating the principle of the program.”

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, Republican Representative Darrell Issa of California and Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren of California were not immediately available to comment. The official replied: “I think it’s important to understand that the job of the president of the United States is to set policy for federal government so any questions about a private company’s practices is not something I’m even able to speak to or answer. The number of H-1B visa applications for this year actually fell to 199,000 from 236,000 received for 2016, according to U.S. As mandated by the Congress, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) every year issues 65,000 H-1B visas and another 20,000 to those applicants having masters and higher degrees from a US educational institution. The idea was America would pick up as much or more in foreign government markets, but there is compelling evidence, such as a February 2017 report from the Government Accountability Office, that suggests the U.S. may not be getting a fair share of the foreign government procurement market through fair trade agreements.” In the report, GAO found as of 2010, the most recent data available, the U.S. opened up $837 billion to foreign companies, which was five times more than the next five countries — the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Norway and Canada — opened up to U.S. firms. “If it turns out America is a net loser because of those free-trade agreement waivers, which apply to almost 60 countries, these waivers may be promptly renegotiated or revoked,” the second official said.
As expected, during a visit to Kenosha, Wisconsin, President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring U.S. federal agencies to take measures aimed at protecting U.S. workers, boost protections for some U.S. products, and examine the H-1B visa program which affords foreign workers opportunities for employment in U.S. specialty fields.