Linette Garcia | Staff Writer
During a press conference on Oct. 29 at the University of South Florida’s Tampa campus, Gov. Ron DeSantis called for the Florida Board of Governors to end H-1B visas at Florida universities, citing a need to put American citizens first. This recent crackdown, if implemented, threatens the foreign employees of many schools, including the 27 FIU workers who are part of this program.
DeSantis argued that universities should offer specialized employment opportunities to prospective American graduates and workers rather than recruiting talent from outside the country. The H-1B program faced staggering controversy in recent months, thanks to the growing disapproval of pro-immigration policies from the Trump administration.
The H-1B program allows foreign professionals to temporarily work in the U.S. if employers cannot find American-born candidates to fill those roles, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. There are currently almost 400 foreign H-1B visa holders working in Florida’s public universities, reported by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Ceasing the hiring of foreign nationals could restrict Florida’s higher ed institutions even more, furthering the conservative overhaul playbook.
Mentioned time and time again, FIU is a school that accepts ambitious international students and workers with open arms. However, revoking visas from those who are part of the practice just seems illogical.
If employers are truly abusing the system to prioritize immigrants to work in Florida institutions, why hasn’t DeSantis spoken about the issue prior?
This sentiment on the H-1B visa program only echoes President Donald Trump’s dramatic implementation of spiking the nonrefundable fee cost from $250 to $100,000. The call for revocation appears like a co-op response to target immigrant communities, blaming specialized immigrants for the fault of our failing economy.
Since Trump took office for a second term, he has been adamant on the dismissal of DEI policies in schools and the workforce, bolstering attacks on educational and economical initiatives—it’s little steps that’ll become a larger effort to dismantle civil rights wins and break communities. Now, he’s been sending mixed signals of wanting to prioritize international workers to fill domestic jobs.
Trump’s main mission is to put “Americans first”, yet he wants to employ skilled laborers from different countries while simultaneously inflating H-1B costs by thousands and kicking them out of the country? Talk about unwanted exploitation.
It will also be difficult to fill faculty spots of current H-1B visa holders; the spaces would be left empty for an extended period, and academic communities would be heavily impacted.
If anything, what truly needs to be federally fixed is how organizations severely underpay their foreign workers for doing the same job American employees do. Although temporary, immigrant workers, especially those who work in higher education, deserve equal pay to build a better life for themselves and families here, just like an American citizen would.
It concerns me how much this country wants to push back on diversity. As well as the talent that comes from around the world and continues to advance civilization. I do not care for my professors’ national origin—I want to be taught by the best, and if their background isn’t American, then so be it. Knowledge shouldn’t be defined by borders.
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