Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Offsite Post: ‘Meta Won’t Be Hiring Many Richlanders for Its AI Center’

 

Big Tech firms like Apple, Microsoft, Meta, and others are often touted as US entrepreneurial success stories.  It is strange, then, that they have such an aversion for hiring natural-born citizens of the States to work for them.

Even the most MAGA-supporting of them, Elon Musk’s Tesla, is eager to hire cheaper foreign workers using H-1B visas:

‘It’s no secret that Elon Musk is a big fan of the H-1B program, which puts him at odds with the core principles of the America First movement. Don’t get us wrong—we’re incredibly grateful for everything Elon has done to support Trump and fight for free speech. He’s made some amazing contributions, and we’re not taking anything away from that. But we can’t just gloss over the fact that hiring foreign workers over Americans is a real issue. To ignore it would fly in the face of everything America First stands for.

‘The fire started when Amanda Louise, an America First advocate, called out Musk and Tesla when she happened upon several job listings for the company in a newspaper. She suggested that Elon was “hiding” these jobs from Americans, so they could hire more foreign workers.  . . .

‘Elon Musk has done incredible things for innovation and free speech, but his support and use of the H-1B program don’t exactly line up with the America First agenda. Let’s be honest—prioritizing foreign workers over Americans is the kind of globalist mentality that got us into this mess in the first place. If Elon truly wants to be a champion of the American spirit, he should embrace every part of the America First movement, especially foundational issues like hiring American workers’ (‘Did Tesla hide job listings in newspapers so they can hire H-1B visa workers?’, revolver.news)

Some statistics from various Big Tech firms confirm their disdain for the citizens of the US:

‘Employers are using H-1B visas to hire foreign workers at significantly lower wages, displacing qualified U.S. workers. Recent statistics show that while mass layoffs have disproportionately impacted American-born workers, foreign workers continue to be hired, undermining job opportunities for U.S. citizens. In 2022, 65% of H-1B visas went to computer occupations, specifically, the tech industry.

‘From 2022 to 2024, the tech industry saw more than 569,000 layoffs across major companies like Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce. Many of these layoffs were attributed to economic downturns, restructuring, or overhiring. However, despite these layoffs, these same companies continued to submit thousands of H-1B petitions, effectively replacing U.S. workers with foreign labor.

‘Amazon: Laid off 27,000 workers globally in 2023 but continued to file H-1B petitions, bringing in additional foreign workers through outsourcing firms like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys.

‘Alphabet (Google): Despite laying off 12,000 employees in 2023, Alphabet filed more than 6,000 H-1B petitions, continuing to bring in foreign workers even as more U.S. workers were displaced.

‘Meta (Facebook): Laid off 21,000 workers between 2022 and 2023 but continued to file new H-1B petitions and to increase its reliance on foreign labor through the H-1B program.

‘ . . . Companies are exploiting the PERM [Program Electronic Review Management—W.G.] process by using fraudulent recruitment practices to bypass U.S. workers and hire foreign labor for permanent positions. This abuse results in the exclusion of American workers from jobs they are qualified for.

‘Several major legal cases have revealed how companies exploit the PERM process to bypass U.S. workers: Facebook settled with the DOJ for $14.25 million after being accused of systematically excluding U.S. workers from jobs reserved for foreign nationals under the PERM process. This case set a significant precedent, demonstrating how employers manipulate the system to favor foreign workers over Americans.

‘Infosys paid $34 million to settle claims of visa fraud, which included filing false job descriptions and misclassifying foreign workers to bypass recruitment requirements. The settlement revealed systemic abuse of both the H-1B and PERM programs, further underscoring the need for stricter enforcement’ (Institute for Sound Public Policy, A Call to Protect American Workers: The Need for Non-Immmigrant Visa Reform, pgs. 2-5; report available at instituteforsoundpublicpolicy.org/petition/).

One will note that Meta/Facebook figures prominently in the H-1B visa abuses and others.  This should give pause to everyone cheering the Meta AI data center announced for Richland Parish.  The narrative being presented to folks in Northeast Louisiana (NELa) is that this center will provide high-paying jobs for lots of people now living in the area.  Given the foregoing, it is more likely that only a few natives of Richland and surrounding parishes will be hired by Meta for positions at the data center, while the bulk of the jobs go to foreign workers brought in on visas.

And this injustice begets another:  the destruction of the conservative culture of NELa.  Generally speaking, workers from abroad who settle in the US lean Left politically:

 . . .

The rest is at https://thehayride.com/2024/12/garlington-meta-wont-be-hiring-many-richlanders-for-its-ai-center/.

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!

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