Angel investor and entrepreneur Jason Calacanis has weighed in on the issue of the H-1B row and exposed how the foreign workers have been abused by the system for decades, while the present narrative squarely blames H-1B visa holders for stealing American jobs. In a podcast, Calacanis said how he witnessed first-hand the abuse of H-1B programs as the IT people preferred to hire Indians to make them overwork and they can’t say no because they would be kicked out of the country. The Donald Trump administration has imposed a $100,000 fee for H-1B visas that the companies will have to pay one time for hiring foreign workers.“Every discussion I’ve ever had about H-1Bs in relation to IT and consulting has always been about saving money. It’s a giant scam on the bottom half of these. I witnessed it firsthand when I was in IT in the early 90s. The IT people would hire typically Indians and they would say stuff to the effect of, ‘These guys are gonna work for half as much and twice as long. And they can’t say no. That’s the best part of it. They can’t say no when we put them on weekend coverage because we can kick ’em out of the country and they have 30 days to find a new job,” Calacanis said.

H-1Bs, illegal aliens pay, and Americans make money

Calcanis revealed that it has been a well-oiled machinery going on in the US for decades, as Americans are actually making money from this. “Sometimes Americans actually MAKE money from H-1B visa holders!These workers pay into Social Security while they’re employed in America, but unless they eventually become citizens, at some point they leave the country and return home without reaping any of these benefits,” the investor said. Apart from income tax, H-1B visa holders generally pay into Social Security and Medicare from their paychecks like US citizens but unlike US citizens, they may not benefit from that money unless they eventually become permanent residents or return to a country that ha a totalization agreement with the US.