US has to bring in talent from around the world: President Trump on H-1B visa
New York (PTI): US President Donald Trump appeared to defend the H-1B visa programme, saying America has to bring in talent from around the world as it does not have “certain talents” in the country.
“I agree but you also do have to bring in talent,” Trump said, responding to a question in an interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox News on whether the H-1B visa issue will not be a big priority for his administration and if one wants to raise wages for American workers, the country cannot be flooded with hundreds of thousands of foreign workers.
When Ingraham noted that "we have plenty of talent”, Trump said, “No, you don’t, no you don’t. You don’t have certain talents. And people have to learn.”
“You can't take people off an unemployment line, and say, ‘I'm going to put you into a factory, we're going to make missiles’,” Trump added.
“In Georgia, they raided because they wanted illegal immigrants. They had people from South Korea that made batteries all their lives. You know, making batteries (is) very complicated. It's not an easy thing, and very dangerous. A lot of explosions, lot of problems,” he said.
“They had, like 500-600 people, early stages to make batteries and to teach people how to do it. Well, they wanted them to get out of the country. You're going to need that…I mean, I know you and I disagree on this.
“You can't just say a country is coming in, going to invest USD 10 billion to build a plant and going to take people off an unemployment line who haven't worked in five years, and they're going to start making missiles. It doesn't work that way,” the president said.
The Trump administration has launched a massive crackdown to check abuse in the H-1B visa programme which is used by companies, particularly technology companies, to employ foreign workers in the US.
Indian professionals, including technology workers and physicians, are among the largest cohort of H-1B visa holders.
In September this year, Trump issued a Proclamation titled ‘Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers’ as an important initial step to reform the H-1B nonimmigrant visa programme.
Under the Proclamation, certain H-1B petitions filed after September 21, 2025 must be accompanied by an additional USD 100,000 payment as a condition of eligibility.
Last week, the Trump administration launched about 175 investigations into H-1B visa abuse, including lapses such as low wages, work sites that didn't exist and the practice of "benching" employees.
“As part of our mission to protect American Jobs, we’ve launched 175 investigations into H-1B abuse,” the US Department of Labour had said in a post on X.
It added that under the leadership of President Trump and Labour Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the agency will continue taking action to put American workers first.
Chavez-DeRemer said in a post on X that the Labour Department “is using every resource at our disposal to put a stop to H-1B abuse and protect American Jobs. Under the leadership of @POTUS, we’ll continue to invest in our workforce and ensure high-skilled job opportunities go to American Workers FIRST!”
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RSS man's defamation case against Rahul: Key witness unavailable, hearing adjourned to Dec 20
Thane (PTI): A court in Bhiwandi in Thane district on Saturday adjourned the hearing in the criminal defamation case filed against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker to December 20 due to non-availability of a crucial prosecution witness.
Advocate Narayan Iyer, counsel for Rahul Gandhi, confirmed the adjournment, stating that the witness, Ashok Saykar, currently Deputy Superintendent of Police in Barshi in Solapur, could not remain present due to personal reasons.
Saykar's evidence is now likely to be recorded on December 29.
His testimony is considered key because he, as police sub inspector in 2014, conducted the preliminary inquiry into the private defamation matter under Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
It was on the basis of Saykar's submitted report that the court subsequently issued process (summons) against Rahul Gandhi under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The criminal defamation case was filed by local RSS worker Rajesh Kunte following a speech given by Rahul Gandhi at an election rally near Bhiwandi on March 6, 2014.
The case stems from the Congress leader's alleged statement that "the RSS people killed (Mahatma) Gandhi."
The matter is being heard by Bhiwandi Joint Civil Judge, Junior Division, P M Kolse.
The hearing had previously been adjourned on November 15 after the complainant's counsel, Advocate Prabodh Jaywant, moved an application seeking permission to examine Saykar, who had submitted the probe report to the court.
The matter was originally scheduled for November 29 but was deferred to December 6 after Rahul Gandhi's legal team sought an adjournment citing their non-availability. The proceedings will now resume on December 20.
