College Students Ask Trump to Halt ‘Egregious’ H-1B Visa, OPT Program

College student organizations are asking President Trump to suspend the H-1B visa and OPT programs while nearly 40 million Americans are jobless due to the Chinese coronavirus crisis.

In a letter to Trump obtained by Breitbart News, 30 college student organizations request that the OPT program be ended and the H-1B visa program be suspended to reduce white-collar labor market competition against American graduates seeking STEM jobs.

“We are writing to you today on behalf of concerned graduating college seniors and young professionals nationwide,” the college student organizations write:

Specifically, we ask you to immediately take action to rescind the work authorization of hundreds of thousands of foreign, nonimmigrant skilled guest workers in order to ease the economic suffering of American college students and recent graduates looking for meaningful employment in these trying times. [Emphasis added]

…

Made worse by the coronavirus economic crisis are the hundreds of thousands of nonimmigrant guest workers in the United States. These guest workers – and especially those in the OPT and H1B programs – take jobs temporarily at wages far below the average for their positions. This is because employers can easily pay these guest workers less than they pay Americans. This is not right. [Emphasis added]

{snip}

The college student organizations write:

You can make this right by ending the OPT program and suspending the H-1B program. Suspending all guest worker programs is ideal, but the OPT and H-1B schemes are especially egregious. We look forward to seeing what you do to help America’s college students and recent graduates.

{snip}