On August 10, 2020, leading U.S. corporations filed an amicus brief supporting the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others challenging the Presidential Proclamation banning the entry of many categories of nonimmigrant workers, discussed previously here.
More than 50 companies and organizations signed on to the brief, including Adobe, Apple, Box, Dropbox, Facebook, HP, Intel, Microsoft, Netflix, Paypal, Reddit, Salesforce, Twitter, Uber, and Zillow.
The brief notes the Adminstration’s own estimate that by the end of 2020, the Proclamation will have resulted in blocking the entry of over a half-million foreign workers and prevented over 20,000 companies from filling the positions these workers would have occupied. It argues that the Proclamation, rather than benefiting U.S. workers by reducing job competition,
“fundamentally disserves the interests of the United States by stifling the ability of U.S. businesses to attract the world’s best talent, drive innovation, and further American economic prosperity.”
It argues further that
“research overwhelmingly shows that these “H-1B visa holders do not adversely affect U.S. workers’ but rather benefit them, as the H-1B program “increases innovation, productivity and profits at H-1B employers and boosts total productivity and innovation in the United States,’ as well as “employment among other workers in an occupation.'” (footnotes omitted).
Already other countries such as Canada are attracting the foreign workers to whom the U.S. is increasingly sending the message that they are not wanted here. Should the Proclamation withstand legal challenge, the U.S. economy, and all who count on it will suffer the greatest harm.