Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump slammed Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for his efforts to make it easier for more immigrants to be able to work at tech firms in the United States.
Zuckerberg has been an advocate for a more open immigration policy and wants tech employers to have access to more H-1B visas for the purpose of hiring skilled workers from other countries,
CNN reports.
In Trump's
immigration policy report, which he released Sunday, the real estate mogul said he would charge employers more for H-1B workers to help give Americans greater access to job prospects. He also wants to see unemployed Americans be given an opportunity to take open tech jobs before they are offered to foreign workers.
"This will improve the number of black, Hispanic and female workers in Silicon Valley who have been passed over in favor of the H-1B program. Mark Zuckerberg's personal Senator, Marco Rubio, has a bill to triple H-1Bs that would decimate women and minorities," Trump wrote in his plan addressing immigration. Rubio is also running for president on the Republican ticket.
Trump said that tech firms have plenty of Americans to choose from who have degrees in science, technology, engineering and math, also known as STEM, to fill their positions.
Zuckerberg started Fwd.us for the purpose of advocating for immigration and lobbying reform. The group also includes Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. The group also supports to a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
While employers are supposed to pay a competitive wage to workers with an H-1B visa, they are historically paid 20 percent to 45 percent less than American workers.
Howard University public policy professor told CNN that the H1-B program shouldn't be eliminated, but he said that "the problem is it's being abused and it's a source of very cheap labor."
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 74 percent of those who have a bachelor's degree in science, technology, engineering or math do not have a job in that field.