elon musk

check out elon musk's whole h-1b drama. remember when he forced twitter employees into a new "take it or leave" agreement? if you look at photos after that ultimatum, you'll see very few white americans left. most of the remaining folks look like they're on h-1b visas. (yeah, i'm guessing from appearances, but let's be real.)

once musk took over twitter, he discovered the "benefits" of using h-1b labor—big-time. he fired a ton of engineers, but someone still had to keep the place running, and that burden fell on these h-1b holders.

why them? because if the boss says "who do you think you are?" and they can't find another job within 60 days, they'll be forced to leave the country. meta did something similar. and if home is india, you can imagine the predicament—when your boss says "jump," you don't have many other options. anyone who's endured six years on h-1b (unless their company files for a green card right away) knows it's not just "go back home." it's more like "good luck making it back here again anytime soon."

even though my own h-1b experience was in the public sector, i've still felt that sense of being stuck. in private companies—especially under ceos like elon musk—some h-1b folks end up in a situation worse than modern indentured servitude. actually, it's just straight-up servitude. if you're from a country like belgium, you might just say "to heck with this" and head home to a decent life. but if you're a young engineer from india, where are you going to go? you can't just bail out and fly home without losing your future here.

anyone who's spent years on an h-1b in the private sector understands this. if these big companies truly cared about improving stem in america, they'd start by fixing our k-12 education instead of constantly importing cheap labor. if they were sincere, they'd solve the ridiculous green card backlog for indian professionals.

but honestly, their main goal is to grab a pliable, underpaid workforce and push down wages for everyone else. musk jump-started that by gutting twitter, and other companies are following his lead.