Congressman and Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds (R-FL) wants to curb legal immigration and abolish the H-1B visa program, arguing instead that the American education system needs to be reformed to fit jobs for the future.
"We have the talent, but the talent hasn't been trained right in our education system," Donalds emphasized during an interview with Benny Johnson on The Benny Show. "We have a K-12 education system that does not prioritize mastery, mastery of core subject matter."
The H-1B visa program is a government program that allows employers to hire foreign nationals temporarily with a bachelor's degree or equivalent to work in specialty occupations, such as technology, engineering, or medicine.
Rep. Donalds noted that U.S. colleges are having to "remediate" high school students in basic Algebra, adding that the standard has left students unprepared to take on skill-heavy jobs in the workforce.
"You have young Americans being caught in this lurch where they have a piece of paper from a four-year university, and that piece of paper is not meeting up with the economic reality in America today," Donalds said.
The congressman called the problem a failure in education and the current immigration system, adding that the issue should have been fixed decades ago. Donalds also accused Democrats of wanting "wide-open" borders to change the demographics of the country for political gain.
"The H-1B system is a complete scam. We now know that to be the case," Donalds argued. "We have to also look at the entire immigration visa framework. We have like 56 visas. They all need a complete overhaul, like chain migration needs to go."
Donalds also called for the U.S. to get back to a "quota" immigration system, which would essentially limit the number of legal immigrants coming into the country every year. Moreover, Donalds alluded to the U.S. implementing a "biometric exit system" on visas to help identify foreign nationals staying in the country over a long period of time.
Essentially, the system would allow the U.S. to regulate who comes in and out of the country on a quota basis without going over the allotment the following year. He also said there needed to be a "clearinghouse process" for people currently on an HB-1 visa.
"If we give Japan 2000 visas per year, and then, through our biometric exit system, we see that only 700 Japanese return. We're not going to give you 2000 the next year," Donalds expressed. "Now you get 1300, or because only 700 went, now you only get the 1300, you get the difference."
Donalds indicated his support for ending birthright citizenship, which gives a person born in the country a legal right to U.S. citizenship regardless of their parents' origin.
He also advocated for ending the filibuster to help with the immigration problem, which is a tactic used to delay or block a vote by Congress with unlimited debate on a bill otherwise needing 60 votes to pass, to help speed up critical reforms for Americans.
"You need 60 votes in the Senate. Are Senate Democrats going to get to these real reforms that are going to impact not just the quality of life of young people, but helping them to get in the game on achieving and living out the American dream?" Donalds questioned.
