United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to overhaul the current H1-B visa system, to end the purported visa "misuse" by many employers who replace American workers with lower-paid foreigners.
Against the backdrop of an American flag made of wrenches, the President signed the order during a stop at Snap-on Tools corporate headquarters in Kenosha.
Moreover, the EO says "in order to create higher wages and employment rates for workers in the United States, and to protect their economic interests, it shall be the policy of the executive branch to rigorously enforce and administer the laws governing entry into the United States of workers from overseas".
The new order will now seek to strengthen requirements that American-made products be used in certain federal construction projects and in various federal transportation grant-funded projects. "Instead, they should be given to the most skilled and highest-paid applicants, and they should never, ever be used to replace Americans", the US President asserted.
Meanwhile, Trump's visit to Kenosha brought hundreds of protestors, who gathered outside of Snap-on to demand that he releases his tax returns and criticised some of his policies, including a plan to build a wall on the border with Mexico.
There was a significant drop, at least 16 percent, in the applications for the H1B visas for highly-skilled workers this year than in 2016.
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Demand for the current H-1B visa program is so high, a lottery system is now implemented, something of which Trump aims to revamp through a merit system. "It's too little, too late", said US Senator Dick Durbin.
As mandated by the Congress, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) every year issues 65,000 H-1B visas and another 20,000 to those applicants having masters and higher degrees from a US educational institution.
The US has already moved on addressing this issue by announcing a new set of guidelines for those qualifying for H-1B visas.
As he nears the 100-day benchmark of his presidency, Trump still has no major legislative achievements.
"This historic act of leadership from President Trump makes unequivocally clear that this Administration will serve and protect the American worker - fighting for fair trade and immigration policies that promote rising wages and employment for our hardworking citizens". He has already signed a number of executive orders since he took office, including the decision to ban travelers from some majority-Muslim nations.
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