AT&T is reportedly laying off thousands of American workers after forcing them to train their foreign replacements who have been imported through the H-1B visa program.
Every year, more than 100,000 foreign workers are brought to the U.S. on the H-1B visa and are allowed to stay for up to six years. There are about 650,000 H-1B visa foreign workers in the U.S. at any given moment. Americans are often laid off in the process and forced to train their foreign replacements, as highlighted by Breitbart News.
More than 85,000 Americans annually potentially lose their jobs to foreign labor through the H-1B visa program. Despite claims by the big business lobby, American workers who have been replaced by H-1B foreign workers say there is no shortage of talented and qualified citizens for high-paying, white-collar jobs.
In a new report by Axios, current and former AT&T employees said they are being laid off after being forced to train their H-1B foreign replacements:
AT&T is poised to send thousands into the new year hunting for new jobs after assigning them to train their own foreign replacements, according to conversations with current and former workers and documents obtained by Axios. [Emphasis added]
Many have worked for the company for over a decade. They aren’t being offered severance or early retirement, and may not easily find a comparable job elsewhere with similar pay. [Emphasis added]
AT&T spokesperson Jim Kimberly told Breitbart News that employees are being helped to find other jobs inside the company.
“We are continuously working to be more efficient in our operations,” Kimberly said. “To the extent possible, we’re managing this staff adjustment through attrition and are helping employees find other positions within the company.”
Sara Blackwell, who represents Americans and green card holders who have been forced out of their U.S. jobs by H-1B foreign replacements, told Axios that the victims of the visa program are “tired of waiting for President Trump to do something on this issue.”
“They’ve gone from great hope in President Trump’s administration, to great discouragement,” Blackwell said. Previously, Blackwell and a group of laid-off Americans — replaced by H-1B visa workers — told Breitbart News that their fight for major reforms has stalled in the Trump administration after spending two years working with the 2016 campaign to get out the vote.
Blackwell, though, told Axios she had met with White House officials this month.
Last year, U.S. businesses and corporations attempted to outsource nearly 420,000 American jobs to foreigners through the H-1B visa program — a number that outpaces the population of Tampa, Florida.
As Breitbart News previously reported, more than 2.7 million H-1B foreign workers have been approved to come to the U.S. to take American jobs between 2007 and 2017. During that same period, businesses tried to outsource almost 3.5 million American jobs to foreign workers instead of hiring Americans.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.