System Update with Glenn Greenwald Trump's Shifting Immigration and H-1B Policies: With Journalist Lee Fang and Political Science Professor Ron Hira
Sep 16, 2025
Journalist Lee Fang and Prof. Ron Hira explore the contentious H-1B visa program and its implications for American workers. They discuss how corporate interests, especially in tech and food industries, influence immigration policies, particularly under the Trump administration. A deep dive into the H-1B lottery reveals its operational flaws and the inequities in selection. The conversation also tackles the need for immigration reform, highlighting both the plight of guest workers and the challenges facing local labor markets against a backdrop of misinformation.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Economic Drivers Behind Immigration
- Big business drives much of U.S. immigration policy by seeking cheaper labor to depress wages.
- This economic motive often gets omitted from mainstream immigration debates.
H-1B's Original Purpose And Drift
- The H-1B program was designed to fill specialized gaps but has expanded into widespread outsourcing.
- Employers now use it to replace U.S. tech workers and reduce labor costs.
Trump's Mixed H-1B Record
- Trump campaigned against H-1B abuses in 2016 but later praised and used the visas himself.
- He told the New York Post he'd 'always been in favor of the visas' and had many H-1Bs on his properties.
