Thread by @SenEricSchmitt

20 Democrat states are suing the Trump Administration to block its H-1B visa crackdown.

These states claim they need H-1Bs to import "skilled foreign workers."

But let's take a look at how they're actually using these visas. 🧵

We'll start with California, whose AG accused the Trump Administration of trying to "shut out the skilled workers America depends on."

He claimed H-1Bs are needed to import "highly skilled foreign national workers" to fix "nationwide labor shortages."

That's odd, given that California has been the site of some of the most egregious H-1B abuse.

Take the infamous case of Southern California Edison: Hundreds of U.S. tech workers were laid off and then forced to train their H-1B replacements just to get their severance package.

"They told us they could replace one of us with three, four, or five Indian personnel and still save money," said a laid-off SCE worker. "They said, we can get four Indian guys for cheaper than the price of you."

Is that what "high-skilled immigration" looks like to @AGRobBonta?

There are countless more cases like this—too many to recount in one thread.

H-1Bs are largely used for tech and STEM occupations. But we've seen it used and abused egregiously, not to hire workers because they're high-skilled specialists, but merely because they're cheaper.

As I noted last month, foreign workers on these programs need to be sponsored by a U.S. employer. As a result, they're often uniquely compliant and hesitant to complain about subpar wages or conditions.

Companies leverage this to maximize their profits.

Wisconsin is another state that's suing to protect their H-1B scheme.

Harley Davidson, headquartered in Milwaukee, has been sued in federal court for partnering with Indian outsourcing firms to lay off Wisconsinite IT workers and force them to train their H-1B replacements.

In Connecticut—another state on the lawsuit—we see the same story.

As their Democratic senator himself has pointed out, multiple major companies in Connecticut have carried out mass layoffs of American tech workers and (surprise!) forced them to train their H-1B replacements.

One laid-off American in Connecticut recalls not just being forced to train his replacement, but 10 additional workers back in India via web conferencing.

Read this story, process how outrageous it is, and then understand: This has happened to tens of thousands of Americans.

Illinois is another plaintiff. One of their largest employers has also been accused of—you guessed it—laying off hundreds of Americans and making them train their H-1B replacements.

In protest, the laid-off U.S. workers put American flags outside their cubicles before they left.

Once again, it's worth pointing out: Illinois' Democrat senator Dick Durbin slammed these layoffs publicly. He's been pushing for H-1B reform for decades.

There's even a number of Democrat senators who have been sounding the alarm on this for a long time.

But that's the point: H-1B abuse is so bad that it's perhaps the one area of immigration restriction that still enjoys some bipartisan support.

So all the smears about "right-wing extremism" won't work here.

Democrat AGs have to explain why their OWN SENATORS are wrong.

New Jersey is another plaintiff.

It's home to Toys "R" Us, which brought in H-1B workers from India to shadow employees for weeks (even following them to the restroom) so the foreign workers could create manuals on how to do the jobs themselves. Then the Americans were laid off.

I could go on and on. In Washington, Microsoft recently announced mass layoffs while applying for thousands of H-1B visas.

In Minnesota, many of the state's largest employers have laid off Minnesotan IT workers—sometimes hundreds at a time—and outsourced them to India.

In announcing this lawsuit, Oregon's Attorney General claimed that H-1Bs allow employers like Oregon State University "to hire skilled foreign workers in specialized roles."

...so then why is OSU applying for H-1Bs to fill the position of "intern"?

Remember, the central argument from apologists for this system is that companies need H-1Bs because they *can't find an American to do the job.*

But in many cases, Americans literally WERE doing the jobs.

And they got laid off and replaced with cheaper foreign labor.

These are often late-career workers. They don't have the luxury of starting over.

Read these stories from @CIS_org. These are real Americans. Mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters of this nation. Our fellow citizens.

What are we doing to our own people?

@CIS_org As I've said before, the H-1Bs were sold as a way to keep America "globally competitive."

Instead, they've been used to import millions of foreign nationals to replace American workers—and transfer entire industries into the hands of foreign lobbies.