Fury erupts as US brand fires 1,600 employees after securing thousands of foreign worker visas

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fury-erupts-us-brand-fires-1600-
employees-after-securing-thousands-foreign-worker-visas

One lawmaker called to end the H-1B foreign worker visa program entirely 
to prioritize hiring American workers

A popular U.S.-based gaming brand owned by Microsoft is facing fury after 
mass employee layoffs occurred in the wake of the company being approved 
for thousands of foreign worker visas.

Microsoft announced that it will lay off 4,800 people total and 1,600 from 
the corporation's XBOX division, which makes and sells the dominant video 
game console.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has been approved this year to hire from foreign 
countries 2,273 employer-sponsored, non-immigrant workers under what is 
known as the H-1B visa program, according to data from U.S. Citizen and 
Immigration Services (USCIS).

Furious online critics claim that American jobs are being unfairly handed 
to foreigners in an effort to cut labor costs but at the cost of leaving 
U.S. workers in the lurch.

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"A great way to fix this is to throw anyone doing this in prison," said 
one user on X. "Fire Americans to replace with thousands of visa workers? 
Straight to jail, and assets seized. This story has been told countless 
times. Fire American staff and hire foreigners. Over and over."

"It is the fault of our Government [sic] for approving the H-1Bs," another 
social media user lamented. "Our Government [sic] has sold us out of jobs 
at home and those being moved to other countries."

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Another user described the H-1B program as "industrial scale job theft 
from Americans."

Microsoft is the sixth-largest beneficiary of H-1B visas, a program that 
is overwhelmingly dominated by workers from India. The company has even 
more H-1B applications pending. Microsoft has employees worldwide, but 
most are in the United States.

"These decisions are based on business need, not visa status. H-1B 
employees were also impacted by job eliminations in the U.S.," a Microsoft 
spokesperson told Fox News Digital when reached for comment on the lay 
offs. 

"Every single employer is exploiting the H-1B visa program," said the 
Project for Immigration Reform.

A lawmaker even called for a complete end to the non-immigrant visa 
program.

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"This is INSANE. LEGAL immigration is a major problem. These companies, 
especially big tech, are abusing these immigration programs to replace 
American workers with foreign workers," said Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va.

"No more. It’s long past time to end the H-1B scam."

XBOX CEO Asha Sharma cited the company's financial health for the layoffs.

"Our business today is not healthy," said a memo from Sharma, according to 
The Associated Press. "We are operating at margins that are 3-10x lower 
than comparable platform and publishing businesses."

Sharma added that her strategy is to "reset" XBOX.

Some online critics, however, claimed Sharma's Indian heritage played a 
role in firing the Americans, given the percentage of H-1B workers from 
India. Sharma was born in Wisconsin.

Vice President JD Vance announced on Tuesday a large-scale investigation 
into H-1B visa fraud.

"Today, I’m proud to announce that the federal Department of Labor has 
started dozens of subpoenas and investigations into foreign fraudsters who 
are trying to take advantage of the H-1B visa program," he said during a 
press conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

"American jobs ought to go to American workers and not foreign fraudsters 
and the Department of Labor is fighting back against it."

Recently, President Donald Trump tried to limit employers' use of the H-1B 
program by imposing a $100,000 fee for companies seeking H-1B 
applications.

A federal judge struck down that order, reasoning that it amounted to a 
tax that only Congress has the ability to impose.


-- 
November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump.  We look 
forward to America being great again.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that 
stupid people won't be offended.

Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.

Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama 
/ Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the 
The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood 
queer liberal democrat donors.