For a little over 40 years, I’ve lived and breathed the tech industry.
I’ve watched it evolve, transform, and, in many ways, deteriorate.
The industry I fell in love with has become almost unrecognizable, and if you haven’t witnessed it like I have, you just don’t understand the deep sense of loss that comes with it.
When I first started, the opportunities were endless.
Companies were driven by innovation, and the culture was rooted in supporting American citizen talent.
But over time, things began to change.
Slowly but surely, foreign labor started seeping in.
It wasn’t overt at first—it began with a few H1B visa holders brought in to fill skill gaps.
It seemed harmless.
But that was just the beginning.
Fast forward 15 to 20 years, and now those same visa holders have transformed into managers.
They are the ones making decisions, leading teams, and bringing in more workers from the same pool they once came from.
It’s become a cycle, a revolving door that keeps bringing in more and more foreign labor, while American talent gets sidelined.
As I watch this unfold, it feels like something I once cherished is slowly being taken over.
The soul of the industry has changed.
Where once we prioritized homegrown talent, we now prioritize the bottom line.
Companies aren’t looking to nurture the American worker anymore—they’re looking to maximize profit, and foreign labor is seen as the easiest way to cut costs.
But here’s the thing: This has to end.
The only way it will end is by addressing the corporations themselves, and hitting them where it matters most—their profits.
These corporations, driven by their bottom lines, are the ones perpetuating this cycle.
They’re the ones benefiting from the foreign labor influx, and they’re the ones who can put a stop to it.
The real failure, though, comes from the politicians who aren’t seeing the full picture.
It’s not just about filling jobs—it’s about who is filling those jobs!
Politicians love to talk about bringing back manufacturing and revitalizing industries, but they never mention that those jobs should be filled by American citizens.
It’s one thing to bring in new industries, but if the talent to fill those jobs isn’t homegrown, then nobody is truly winning.
It’s not enough to just say “we’ve created jobs”—we need those jobs to go to American citizens!
That’s why I propose the “U.S. Foreign Labor Levy”—a legislative measure aimed at imposing a progressive tax on companies that hire foreign labor over American citizen workers.
It’s the only way I see to reverse this trend and bring back fairness to the workforce.
It’s simple: if corporations want to continue flooding the market with foreign labor, they should pay a steep price for it.
The revenue from that tax could be reinvested into workforce development, creating new opportunities for American citizens and ensuring that these jobs are filled by the people who built this country.
If anyone has any other suggestions on how to reverse this, I’m all ears.
But in my view, this levy is the only solution that can bring us back to a fair, equitable workforce.
It’s time to hold corporations accountable.
It’s time to ensure that American workers, not foreign labor, are the ones filling the jobs that will drive our future forward.