WASHINGTON D.C. – Representative Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S (AZ-04) issued the following statements after joining Representatives Mo Brooks (AL-05), Andy Biggs (AZ-05) and Matt Gaetz (FL-01) in introducing the Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act, legislation that would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate the Optional Practice Training (OPT) Program.

“What country creates a program, but not a law, that rewards its businesses to fire citizen workers and replace them with foreign labor to pay the foreign labor less?  The United States.  The program is called OPT and it reflects a complete abandonment of our own workers.

At a time when American college graduates are struggling to find a job and many are saddled with student loans, our government should not be incentivizing foreign employees over Americans. This badly flawed government program should be eliminated,” said Rep. Paul Gosar. 

“The Optional Practical Training Program (OPT), invented entirely through executive action, has become one of the largest guestworker programs in the United States. OPT openly undercuts American workers, particularly higher-skilled workers and recent college graduates, by giving employers an actual tax incentive to hire compliant, inexpensive foreign labor under the guise of “student training.” We applaud Rep. Gosar’s steadfast commitment to protecting American workers with the reintroduction of the Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act,” added Rosemary Jenks, Director of Government Relations, NumbersUSA.

“The America First Policy Institute supports Rep. Paul Gosar’s efforts to prioritize the interests, careers, and futures of American citizens. Congressional rectification of the Optical Practical Training Program, created in an act of executive overreach, is a crucial first step in ensuring that young Americans who have spent years and fortunes pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics have priority for jobs in those fields here in the United States. We owe it to current and future generations of Americans to stop treating them like second-class citizens and fight for a domestic economy that always puts them first,” statedJohn A. Zadrozny, Director for the Center for Homeland Security and Immigration, America First Policy Institute.

“Landing that first job out of college will only become more difficult for young Americans as our universities formalize the role they play in crowding out opportunities once reserved for American graduates. For this reason, OPT must be eliminated.  I praise the efforts of Congressman Paul Gosar in drafting the Fairness for High Skilled Americans Act and encourage his colleagues in both the House and Senate to join him in protecting opportunities for America’s STEM graduates,” stated Kevin Lynn, Founder of U.S. Techworkers.

Background:

“OPT is a guest worker program administered by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that was never authorized by Congress and was greatly expanded by the Obama Administration. OPT circumvents the H-1B cap by allowing over 100,000 aliens admitted as foreign students to work for up to three years in the United States after graduation. These foreign workers are exempt from payroll taxes making them at least 10-15 percent cheaper than a comparable American worker.

Congressman Gosar first introduced the Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act in the 116^th Congress and has twice signed amicus briefs in support of American workers in their lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security to eliminate OPT.

WASHINGTON D.C. – Representative Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S (AZ-04) issued the following statements after joining Representatives Mo Brooks (AL-05), Andy Biggs (AZ-05) and Matt Gaetz (FL-01) in introducing the Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act, legislation that would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate the Optional Practice Training (OPT) Program.

“What country creates a program, but not a law, that rewards its businesses to fire citizen workers and replace them with foreign labor to pay the foreign labor less?  The United States.  The program is called OPT and it reflects a complete abandonment of our own workers.

At a time when American college graduates are struggling to find a job and many are saddled with student loans, our government should not be incentivizing foreign employees over Americans. This badly flawed government program should be eliminated,” said Rep. Paul Gosar. 

“The Optional Practical Training Program (OPT), invented entirely through executive action, has become one of the largest guestworker programs in the United States. OPT openly undercuts American workers, particularly higher-skilled workers and recent college graduates, by giving employers an actual tax incentive to hire compliant, inexpensive foreign labor under the guise of “student training.” We applaud Rep. Gosar’s steadfast commitment to protecting American workers with the reintroduction of the Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act,” added Rosemary Jenks, Director of Government Relations, NumbersUSA.

“The America First Policy Institute supports Rep. Paul Gosar’s efforts to prioritize the interests, careers, and futures of American citizens. Congressional rectification of the Optical Practical Training Program, created in an act of executive overreach, is a crucial first step in ensuring that young Americans who have spent years and fortunes pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics have priority for jobs in those fields here in the United States. We owe it to current and future generations of Americans to stop treating them like second-class citizens and fight for a domestic economy that always puts them first,” statedJohn A. Zadrozny, Director for the Center for Homeland Security and Immigration, America First Policy Institute.

“Landing that first job out of college will only become more difficult for young Americans as our universities formalize the role they play in crowding out opportunities once reserved for American graduates. For this reason, OPT must be eliminated.  I praise the efforts of Congressman Paul Gosar in drafting the Fairness for High Skilled Americans Act and encourage his colleagues in both the House and Senate to join him in protecting opportunities for America’s STEM graduates,” stated Kevin Lynn, Founder of U.S. Techworkers.

Background:

“OPT is a guest worker program administered by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that was never authorized by Congress and was greatly expanded by the Obama Administration. OPT circumvents the H-1B cap by allowing over 100,000 aliens admitted as foreign students to work for up to three years in the United States after graduation. These foreign workers are exempt from payroll taxes making them at least 10-15 percent cheaper than a comparable American worker.

Congressman Gosar first introduced the Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act in the 116^th Congress and has twice signed amicus briefs in support of American workers in their lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security to eliminate OPT.

WASHINGTON D.C.  – This week, Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S (AZ-04) issued the following statement after introducing legislation providing a 10-year moratorium on all immigration into the United States:

“America is a nation of laws. And like every country on earth, it has laws limiting how and when, and who, can come into our borders. Not just to visit, to live and work.

The current regime is ignoring and actively assisting the violation of our federal laws. The Biden administration has literally and figuratively opened the gates and is waving hundreds of thousands of criminals into our country. We are looking at 2 million criminals being let in this year alone.  On top of over 30 million already here.

Then to harm our people more, the Biden administration uses tax money to pay for transportation, fancy hotels (one in Scottsdale, Arizona), food and health care for these illegal aliens.  Meanwhile Americans suffer with inflation and low wages.

We can’t have legal immigration when we have rampant illegal alien invaders. This is a threat to our national security and our economy and to our citizens.

With the destruction of President Trump’s solid immigration enforcement, and current disregard and violation of existing federal law, Mr. Biden has unleashed the most severe border and humanitarian crisis in United States history.  No other nation, save England and Germany, has willingly participated in its own economic and cultural destruction.  No American voted for this desecration.  The laws have not been changed.  This is lawless criminality.

With millions of Americans including our veterans who are now unemployed, homeless, or living in poverty we need to take care of one another before we allow millions to migrate here. Time to pause migration to America and figure out how to put the American people first,” said Rep. Paul Gosar.

Background

Currently, the United States is experiencing an enormous surge of illegal aliens entering at an exponential rate. In the months of May and June alone of this year at least 369,470 migrants were encountered by United States Customs and Border Protection. During the height of the pandemic, Representative Gosar stood in support of President Trump’s executive orders to halt immigration in the United States including the suspension of visas to ensure that American citizens do not experience employment discrimination. Mr. Biden is reversing all of President Trump’s policies and is looking to end Title 42. By pausing the admission of aliens to America it will give the United States an opportunity to figure out how to end illegal immigration and put Americans first in line for jobs, education, and other opportunities.

A copy of the bill text can be found here.