The H-1B work visas (temporary work visas for non-immigrants) represent how risky it is for anyone to laud Donald Trump for a position he has taken on an issue, as Trump may be on the other side of the issue as soon as the next day. President Trump changed his position on abortion in the course of an eight-hour day, and he asked the treasury secretary and the U.S. trade representative to explore rejoining the Trans Pacific Partnership, yet the next day he called off the effort and said he was in favor of bilateral trade agreements. He soon reiterated that position in a meeting with Japanese President Abe.
In a debate hosted by CNBC on October 28, 2015, Donald Trump was asked for his position on H-1B work visas. He responded: "The influx of foreign workers holds down salaries, keeps unemployment high, and makes it difficult for poor and working class Americans -- including immigrants themselves and their children -- to earn a middle class wage. ... We need companies to hire from the domestic pool of unemployed." He proposed increasing the prevailing wage for H-1B visas and adding a recruitment requirement to find American workers before hiring foreign ones. Trump had been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, who wanted to increase the number of these H-1Bs, but when asked about it, he said: "They come from another country and they're sent out. I am in favor of keeping these talented people here so they go to work in Silicon Valley." When asked again by moderator Betsy Quick if he was in favor of or opposed to H-1Bs, Trump replied: "I'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it any way they want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want."
At the March 3, 2016 debate hosted by Fox News, Donald Trump was asked by Megyn Kelly about the conflict between his campaign website and at the CNBC debate, he answered: "I'm changing! I'm changing!" and he referred to the need for highly skilled people. The next day, Trump reversed his position by saying he would "end forever" the practice of using H-1B workers for cheaper labor.
It was during the March 10, 2016 debate hosted by CNN that Donald Trump admitted that he had taken advantage of the H-1B program. He described it as a lawful program that he shouldn't have been allowed to use; however, he wanted to deny its future use.
On April 18, 2017, President Trump signed the "Buy American and Hire Americans" executive order, which tasked the attorney general and the secretaries of State, Labor and Homeland Security to suggest reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid position beneficiaries. In a speech at Kenosha, Wisconsin the same day he signed the order, Trump said H-1B visas should be awarded to "the most-skilled or highest-paid applicants, and they should never, ever be used to replace Americans." So, Trump, himself, used the H-1B program and supports bringing in talented, educated workers from abroad, but he also wants to end the program because it's full of abuse. He proposes restricting the program so that the industry that most relies on it -- the tech industry -- can't use it to shut Americans out from jobs in the Silicon Valley. U.S. companies must use a recruitment program to find qualified U.S. citizens before they can use the H-1B program. If there are sufficient U.S. workers to fill the needed positions, then the H-1B program becomes moot.
Trump properties sought 1,100 foreign worker visas in the five years beginning in 2000. Since he mostly used H-2B visas, most of Trump's foreign workers probably came from Mexico.
ADDENDUM:
*When three members of President Trump's team --including a lawyer and Trump's personal body guard -- seized Trump's medical records from his personal doctor at the time, they violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which required the use of the HIPAA Medical Records Transfer Form.
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