Cummins Inc. has joined several major U.S. companies and industry groups in speaking out against the Trump administration’s decision to bar many categories of foreign workers and freeze immigration visas through the end of the year.
The measure announced by the Trump administration on Monday extends an earlier ban on green cards issued outside the United States until the end of the year and adds many temporary work visas to the freeze, including those used heavily by companies to hire highly-skilled workers from abroad.
The freeze will apply to H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, H4 visas for their spouses, L-1 visas companies use to transfer international employees to the United States, H-2B visas for seasonal workers and J-1 visas for cultural exchanges, according to the The Associated Press.
The order, however, excludes agricultural laborers, healthcare professionals supporting the pandemic response and food service employees, as well as some other temporary workers.
“We are disappointed by the Trump administration’s intention to suspend and limit several temporary visas until the end of 2020, including H-1B, H-4 and L-1 visas,” said company spokesman Jon Mills. “To recruit and retain the best global talent we need fair and flexible immigration laws. If U.S. companies are not able to keep top talent that has been developed at top U.S. universities, our global competitors have a distinct advantage.”
The move by the Trump administration has been met with criticism from several U.S. companies, including Apple, Amazon, Tesla and Alphabet, Google’s parent company.
Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s chief executive officer, said in a tweet that he was “disappointed” by the decision, adding that “immigration has contributed immensely to America’s economic success, making it a global leader in tech, and also Google the company it is today.”
Amazon also took to Twitter to criticize the freeze, calling the decision “short-sighted,” adding that visa programs are “critical to America’s economic recovery.”
The White House has defended its decision, claiming that the visa programs “pose an unusual threat to the employment of American workers” due to the “extraordinary circumstances of the economic contraction resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak,” according to a proclamation released by the White House on Monday.
Cummins, which is headquartered in Columbus, employs “a significant number of H-1B and L-1 visa holders,” Mills said.
The company has received at least 948 initial approvals for H-1B visas since fiscal year 2016, and at least 2,038 continuing approvals for H-1B visas, according to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Additionally, Cummins has received at least 17 approvals for L-1 visas over the same time period, according to federal records.
“The majority of these individuals are engineers who are key to our success as a technology company,” Mills said. “In our own experience, foreign-born residents contribute to job creation, including for native-born Americans, and often provide the technological innovations that drive economic growth.”
The ban, while temporary, would amount to major restructuring of legal immigration if made permanent, a goal that had eluded the administration before the pandemic, the The Associated Press reported. Long-term changes targeting asylum seekers and high-tech workers are also being sought, according to wire reports.
A senior administration official told the The Associated Press that the restrictions will free up an estimated 525,000 jobs for Americans.
Business groups pressed hard to limit the changes, but got little of what they wanted, marking a victory for immigration hardliners as Trump seeks to further solidify their support ahead of the November election.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform and the Center for Immigration Studies praised the administration’s decision, characterizing the move as “welcome news” and “bold.”
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce criticized the Trump administration’s decision “severe and sweeping attempt to restrict legal immigration” that could hinder the country’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
“Putting up a ‘not welcome’ sign for engineers, executives, IT experts, doctors, nurses and other workers won’t help our country, it will hold us back,” said Chamber president Thomas Donohue in a statement. “Restrictive changes to our nation’s immigration system will push investment and economic activity abroad, slow growth and reduce job creation.”
Trump imposed a 60-day ban on green cards issued abroad in April, which was set to expire Monday, according to the The Associated Press. That announcement, which largely targeted family members, drew a surprisingly chilly reception from immigration hardliners, who said the president didn’t go far enough.
The freezes on visas issued abroad are designed to take effect immediately. Other changes, including restrictions on work permits for asylum seekers, will go through a formal rule-making process that takes months.
The administration is proposing a new way of awarding H-1B visas, the official said, awarding them by highest salary instead of by lottery, according to wire reports.
H-1B visas are capped at 85,000 a year for people with “highly specialized knowledge” and minimum of a bachelor’s degree, often in science, technology, engineering, teaching and accounting.
“This is bad for businesses and hurts many employees at American businesses who were educated at American universities,” Mills said. “These actions also hinder our ability to provide top employees the ability to grow and develop and to move across our company.”
