Tech industry's reliance on foreign H-1B workers shatters unwritten pact with American middle class
An opinion piece argues that the tech sector's shift to hiring overseas talent under H-1B visas broke an informal contract with U.S. middle-class workers, sparking growing resentment.
The piece contends that an informal agreement between Silicon Valley and the American middle class collapsed when legal immigration policies enabled firms to replace domestic talent with foreign workers. After Congress enacted the Immigration Act of 1990, an annual limit of 65,000 visas opened the door for H-1B hiring, and computer-related occupations jumped from 26 % of visas in 1995 to 42 % in 1996, according to a Center for Migration Studies study.
The ICT sector, led by companies such as Microsoft, Google, Cisco, META, Oracle, Intel and Qualcomm, lobbied heavily to expand the cap, hiring lobbyist Harris Miller and forming groups like the American Business for Legal Immigration with industry funding. Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus and CEO of Anduril, described the program in a February 2025 interview as a “scam” that substitutes U.S. workers with “slave labor.”
Isaiah Taylor of Valar Atomics warned that the growing hostility between tech firms and the middle class must be addressed, urging a renewed social contract that benefits American workers. The author concludes that without such a reset, the tech industry risks further alienating the workforce that once powered its rise.
Why it matters
It highlights how immigration policy and tech hiring practices may be undermining American middle-class employment.
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