There is a common misconception among those who favor bypassing available, qualified American workers for the STEM jobs in the US. Some either really believe, or they prefer to say, that the number of STEM workers who enter the country each year to replace American workers is only 65,000.
The real numbers are much higher than that, and they are readily available online. The State Department issues the visas. A few of the visa programs require a certification process, amounting to absolutely no protections for US workers, from the DOL. The DOL official policy, in fact, is that US workers can be replaced even if they are available and want the job.
Refer to this previous diary for the relevant information.
Most companies can explicitly discriminate against American workers by recruiting and hiring only H-1B visa holders. As the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has said:
H-1B workers may be hired even when a qualified U.S. worker wants the job, and a U.S. worker can be displaced from the job in favor of a foreign worker.
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