Category: US Politics

President Joe Biden is giving companies a second chance at outsourcing American jobs to foreign H-1B visa workers.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the agency will allow companies to reapply for foreign H-1B visa workers who were previously denied such visas when they applied for them over the last four years of former President Trump’s administration.

USCIS rescinded three reforms pertaining to the H-1B visa program, which has been readily used for years by companies to replace Americans in high-paying white-collar jobs. The reforms helped prevent multinational corporations from using Indian outsourcing firms to grab loads of foreign H-1B visa workers to fill U.S. jobs.

Now, eligible companies that were denied H-1B visas under each of the reforms can appeal the denial in the hopes of nabbing foreign visa workers. Lawyers who represented outsourcing firms told Law360 that at least 75 percent of H-1B denials in the last few years were a result of Trump’s reforms.

“Do we really need to invite the HCL, Tatas, and Wipros to reapply for all the H-1Bs that were rejected during the Trump years,” the group White Collar Workers of America wrote in a post online, referencing the Indian outsourcing firms set to benefit from the move.

“All of those H-1Bs were rejected for a reason, to fight outsourcing companies who abuse the H-1B lottery and game the system,” the group continued.

Last month, the Biden administration rescinded a Trump reform that prevented companies from bringing entry-level computer programmers to the U.S. to fill jobs on the H-1B visa, noting that the occupation did not meet the program’s “specialty occupation” requirement.

Soon after the 2020 presidential election, the business lobby began asking Biden to end Trump’s reforms to the H-1B visa program in the hopes they can maximize profits by outsourcing labor.

There are about 650,000 foreign H-1B visa workers in the U.S. at any given time. Americans are often laid off in the process and forced to train their foreign replacements, as highlighted by Breitbart News. More than 85,000 Americans annually potentially lose their jobs to foreign labor through the H-1B visa program.

Analysis conducted in 2018 discovered that 71 percent of tech workers in Silicon Valley, California, are foreign-born, while the tech industry in the San Francisco, Oakland, and Hayward area is made up of 50 percent foreign-born tech workers. Up to 99 percent of foreign H-1B visa workers imported by the top eight outsourcing firms arrive from India.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here. 

Likely American voters without college degrees, those with only a high school diploma, and swing voters are the most opposed to two amnesty bills being voted on this week in the House, a new survey reveals.

As Breitbart News reported, the House will vote on two amnesty bills on March 18. Between the two bills, an estimated five million illegal aliens living in the United States could benefit from the amnesties while increasing legal immigration levels.

Most significantly, one of the amnesties would allow 1.5 to 2.1 million illegal aliens working on farms to eventually apply for green cards to permanently resettle in the U.S.

In addition, the farm amnesty would allow thousands of foreign H-2A visa workers to compete directly with working class Americans for agriculture jobs and floods the U.S. labor market with an additional 40,000 green cards for foreign workers.

A survey by Rasmussen Reports asked 1,000 likely U.S. voters if they supported the amnesty bills for five million illegal aliens. Those most opposed to the amnesties were working class Americans most likely to compete in the labor market against cheaper foreign, often illegal, workers.

About 56 percent of college dropouts said they opposed the amnesties along with 54 percent of voters with only a high school diploma. Roughly 42 percent of college dropouts and those with only a high school diploma said they support the amnesties.

For voters making less than $30,000 a year, about 51 percent oppose the amnesties while 39 percent support them. Swing voters, similarly, said by a 55 percent majority that they do not support the amnesties while 39 percent said otherwise.

Republican voters and self-described conservatives are deeply opposed to the amnesty bills, the survey finds. Among Republicans, for instance, about 72 percent said they oppose the amnesties and only 24 percent said they support them.

Conservatives, likewise, said by a 77 percent majority that they oppose the amnesties. Only 23 percent of conservatives support the amnesties.

Self-described liberals are the only demographic group surveyed that said they “strongly support” the amnesties by a majority, 56 percent.

Despite Republican voters’ opposition to the amnesties, the farm amnesty is being supported by orchard owner Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), as well as Reps. Elisa Stefanik (R-NY), Mark Amodei (R-NV), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-WA), Mike Simpson (R-ID), Fred Upton (R-MI), David Valadao (R-CA), and Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ).

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here. 

Candace Owens took to Twitter on Tuesday to tell rapper Cardi B that her performance at the Grammy Awards on Sunday night was “grotesque,” adding that “there’s no person in America” wishing “their daughters turn out like you.” Owens and Cardi B engaged in a heated Twitter exchange, in which the rapper shamed the conservative commentator for making her husband a sandwich.

“Matter fact I’m just going to thank Candy. She put my performance on Fox News giving it more views that boosted the views on YouTube and is counting towards my streams and sales,” Cardi B tweeted. “STREAM UP AND WAP .REMEMBER GROWN PARENTS ONLY YOU CAN MONITOR WHAT YOUR KIDS WATCH NO1 ELSE.”

Watch below: 

Owens reacted by clarifying that she doesn’t take issue with the rapper’s success, but rather with Cardi B “being used to encourage young women to strip themselves of dignity.”

“You are insecure and I irk you because I see right through the facade,” Owens added in a follow-up tweet. “You are a part of a larger cancer that is manifesting in black culture.”

“There’s no person in America who can look you in the face and honestly say they wish they’re daughters turned out like you,” Owens affirmed.

Cardi B responded by shaming Owens for making her “white” husband a sandwich while she was nine months pregnant.

“And black women should be more like you? After all the fighting for equality and freedom they should be submissive to a white a man after years of abuse & rape making them a sandwich while pregnant cause in your words ‘that’s what a woman should do’? Interesting,” Cardi B tweeted.

“If you think making your husband a sandwich is a sin, but popping your vagina into another woman’s vagina in front of the world is power — you are a lost soul,” Owens reacted.

The Twitter exchange continued, before Cardi B eventually mentioned that Owens had previously said  she watched her in VH1’s Love & Hip Hop, and thought that the rapper had potential.

“You’re all over the place trying to make people look at anything but the issue at hand,” Owens reacted. “Your performance was grotesque. This is not about love & hip hop. This is not about my husband’s sandwich. This is about you & the vulgarity that you espouse that is ruinous to our youth.”

“Millions of young girls follow you. At your best, you are self-deprecating and humorous. At your worst, you are naked, shoving your vagina into another woman’s vagina while thrusting atop her. You were at your worst on the Grammy stage. Do better @iamcardib,” Owens concluded.

Cardi B performed a rendition of her hit song, “Wet Ass Pussy” (WAP) on Sunday night at the Grammys alongside fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion, in which the two were seen thrusting their genitals at each other.

In 2019, Cardi B attacked the New York Police Department, telling it to “motherfucking suck a fart and suffocate on it” after the NYPD allegedly convinced a Brownsville school to cancel a giveaway hosted by her friend Star Brim. That same year, Cardi B expressed her admiration for Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) for president, claiming, “I’m really sad how we let him down in 2016.” 

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler @alana, and on Instagram.

Activists representing the interests of alleged survivors of campus sexual misconduct are pressuring the Biden administration to eliminate the Trump-era rule regarding how Title IX complaints are handled.

The activist group called Know Your IX has released a report stating “men’s rights advocates and popular press have insisted that Title IX has forced the pendulum to swing too far in the wrong direction.”

The group claims the Trump administration’s rule “rolled back” the U.S. Education Department’s (USED) “enforcement of survivors’ rights in schools, releasing regulations on Title IX that created special rights for respondents in Title IX cases and made it easier for schools to ignore survivors’ reports.”

The activists claim the effect of the Trump education department’s overhaul of the Obama administration’s rules “led to institutional neglect for survivor safety, a shocking trend of respondents using school disciplinary systems to retaliate against survivors, a weaponization of defamation lawsuits, and high rates of survivor pushout from school.”

In its report, Know Your IX recommends alleged campus sexual misconduct survivors receive supportive measures, including:

… academic accommodations such as extensions on assignments and tutoring, housing and residential accommodations, campus employment accommodations, campus escorts, no-contact orders or persona non grata letters, and transportation arrangements.

The activists say schools should provide on-campus mental health assistance and additional aide from Congress, the USED, and the Department of Justice.

Know Your IX also recommends that “all colleges and universities should be required to have and enforce amnesty policies.”

“Students reporting sexual violence or serving as witnesses in an investigation should never face punishment for alcohol or drug use, consensual sexual conduct, or other conduct violations that do not involve harassment, discrimination, or violence,” the activists say, adding:

The fear of such repercussions deters student survivors and bystanders from coming forward to report sexual harassment, reducing the likelihood that survivors will get the support and safety measures they need to continue accessing their education. Recognizing this reality, the Department must mandate that school districts—like colleges and universities—meaningfully advertise and adhere to amnesty policies in order to comply with Title IX.

The group also insists on restricting the involvement of campus police in school sexual misconduct investigations:

Police act as a symbol of authority and criminality, which often have negative connotations for marginalized survivors who have negative personal and community experiences with the criminal legal system. As many survivors do not feel safe engaging in a process with police, police presence within a Title IX investigation impedes the ability of a school to create a safe educational environment outside of the legal system.

The report comes one week after President Joe Biden issued an executive order “on guaranteeing an educational environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex, including sexual orientation or gender identity.”

In his order, Biden tasked the USED Secretary Miguel Cardona (pictured), in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney General, to review the Title IX regulation and consider replacing it.

In 2017, former USED Secretary Betsy DeVos revoked the Obama era “guidance” that instituted what she termed “kangaroo courts” on campuses to assess claims of sexual misconduct.

The Trump administration gave significant attention not only to the concerns of students who were alleged victims of sexual attacks, but also to the accused.

“We need to remember that we’re not just talking about faceless ‘cases,’” DeVos said. “We are talking about people’s lives. Everything we do must recognize this before anything else.”

DeVos said the system put into place by the Obama administration had failed both alleged sexual assault victims and the accused. The former secretary addressed the trend the intimidating Obama-era guidance had promoted in which “any perceived offense can become a full-blown Title IX investigation.”

Feminists and LGBT activists condemned the Trump administration for inviting students who had been falsely accused and disciplined for sexual assault under the Obama-era Title IX guidance to be heard in “listening sessions.”

In his campaign’s plan to end violence against women, Biden vowed to “expand survivors’ reporting rights and options on college campuses.”

“Any backstepping on Title IX is unacceptable,” Biden’s campaign stated about the Trump administration’s emphasis on the due process rights of the accused. “The Biden Administration will restore the Title IX guidance for colleges, including the 2011 Dear Colleague Letter, which outlined for schools how to fairly conduct Title IX proceedings.”

A Michigan judge ruled last week Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) broke state law when she unilaterally issued rules related to absentee balloting, legitimizing a key claim made by the Trump campaign in its legal challenges to the 2020 election.

Benson issued several unilateral orders during the 2020 election including sending absentee ballot applications to all registered voters. She also issued “guidance” on how to evaluate absentee ballots, a move Michigan Court of Claims Chief Judge Christopher Murray held violated the state’s Administrative Procedures Act.

Genetski v. Benson, No. 20-216-MM in the Court of Claims for the State of Michigan by Breitbart News on Scribd

In the guidance, Benson said “slight similarities” in signatures on absentee ballots should lead a counter to decide “in favor of finding that the voter’s signature was valid.”

Murray ruled Benson violated the law “because the guidance issued by the Secretary of State on October 6, 2020, with respect to signature matching standards was issued in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA).”

“I’m glad the court sees Secretary of State Benson’s attempts at lawmaking for what they are — clear violations of her authority,” Michigan state Rep. Matt Hall (R) said in a statement.

“If she wants to make changes like these, she needs to work with the Legislature or properly promulgate them through the laws we have on the books — in this case the Administrative Procedures Act,” he continued.

Murray’s ruling came after Allegan County Clerk Bob Genetski sued Benson and state Director of Elections Jonathan Brater over Benson’s order which Hall described as a “mandatory directive requiring local election officials to apply a presumption of validity to all signatures on absent voter ballots.”

According to the suit, Genetski argued “the presumption contained in the guidance issued by defendant Benson will allow invalid votes to be counted,” but Genetski did not allege “that this guidance caused him to accept a signature that he believed was invalid.”

The court’s opinion concluded:

…nowhere in this state’s election law has the Legislature indicated that signatures are to be presumed valid, nor did the Legislature require that signatures are to be accepted so long as there are any redeeming qualities in the application or return envelope as compared with the signature on file. Policy determinations like the one at issue — which places the thumb on the scale in favor of a signature’s validity — should be made pursuant to properly promulgated rules under the APA or by the Legislature.

Like other progressive secretaries of state, Benson put an aggressive emphasis on voting by absentee ballot in the name of safety amid the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

Over 3.1 million Michigan voters cast an absentee ballot out of a possible 7.7 million voters, WWMT News reported.

In May 2020, Benson used $4.5 million in funds from the CARES Act — the original coronavirus stimulus — to send absentee ballot applications to all voters, according to Breitbart News.

“By mailing applications, we have ensured that no Michigander has to choose between their health and their right to vote,” Benson said according to NBC 25.

“Voting by mail is easy, convenient, safe, and secure, and every voter in Michigan has the right to do it,” she continued.

Hall noted, “The Legislature is an equal branch of government charged with crafting laws. This is not the role of the Secretary of State, and there is a clear process that must be respected.”

Signature validation rules created without the approval of a legislature was one of the issues the Trump campaign and Republicans claimed was done illegally in the 2020 election.

Trump’s campaign and Republicans argued in cases nationwide that Article II of the Constitution requires state legislatures to make the rules governing presidential elections, and state election officials and courts lack the authority to change those rules.

Murray’s ruling undercuts the Democrat narrative that Republican legal challenges to 2020 election procedures were without merit and had therefore all been rejected by the courts. The original suit was filed October 6, 2020 — prior to the presidential election — but was not decided until March 9, 2021.

The case is Genetski v. Benson, No. 20-216-MM in the Court of Claims for the State of Michigan.

Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. He is also host of “The Kyle Olson Show,” syndicated on Michigan radio stations on Saturdays — download full podcast episodes. Follow him on Parler.