Trump wants skilled foreign workers to train Americans, then 'return home'

A day after US President Donald Trump publicly defended the H-1B visa programme as essential for bringing in specialised talent, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent outlined the administration’s long-term vision: using foreign skilled workers temporarily to train Americans, after which those workers would “go back home”.

 

In an interview with Fox News, Bessent said the policy direction is clear — the US will continue importing highly skilled labour, but only as a transitional workforce.

 

“The President's vision here is to bring in overseas workers… who have the skills. Three, five, seven years to train US workers, then they can go home. The US workers fully take over,” — Scott Bessent, US Treasury Secretary

 

 

Bessent argued that the US cannot immediately fill specialised roles because “for 20–30 years, we have offshored precision manufacturing jobs,” particularly in areas like shipbuilding, batteries, and semiconductors.

 

“We can’t snap our fingers and say you’ll learn how to build ships overnight… we haven’t built semiconductors here for years,” he said, adding that bringing overseas talent to retrain American workers is “a home run”.

 

Trump defends H-1B visas despite crackdown

 

Trump has recently taken a dual stance: even as his administration intensifies scrutiny of H-1B misuse, he insists the US still needs global talent.

 

In a Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham, Trump pushed back against the argument that the US has “plenty of talent.”

 

“No, you don’t. You don’t have certain talents… You can’t take people off an unemployment line and say, we’re going to put you into a factory, we’re going to make missiles,” Trump said.

 

He cited examples from Georgia, where workers from South Korea with lifetime experience in battery manufacturing were asked to leave.

 

“In Georgia, they raided because they wanted illegal immigrants. They had people from South Korea that made batteries all their lives. You know, making batteries (is) very complicated. It's not an easy thing, and very dangerous. A lot of explosions, lot of problems. They had, like 500-600 people, early stages to make batteries and to teach people how to do it. Well, they wanted them to get out of the country. You're going to need that…I mean, I know you and I disagree on this. You can't just say a country is coming in, going to invest USD 10 billion to build a plant and going to take people off an unemployment line who haven't worked in five years, and they're going to start making missiles. It doesn't work that way.”  

The Trump administration has launched a massive crackdown to check abuse in the H-1B visa programme which is used by companies, particularly technology companies, to employ foreign workers in the US. Indian professionals, including technology workers and physicians, are among the largest cohort of H-1B visa holders. 

Major restrictions and investigations underway

 

Despite Trump’s defence of the programme, his administration has simultaneously launched the most aggressive regulatory crackdown on H-1B visas in years.

 

Key measures announced:

 

A new $100,000 surcharge for certain H-1B petitions filed after September 21, 2025, under the presidential proclamation “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers.”

 

175 active H-1B investigations, targeting:

 

• underpayment or low wages
• fake or non-existent worksites
• “benching” employees without pay
• Multiple agencies, including the US Department of Labour, have pledged to put “American workers FIRST”.
• Labour Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said her department is using “every resource” to halt H-1B abuse.

 

“We will continue to invest in our workforce and ensure high-skilled job opportunities go to American Workers FIRST!”

she posted on X.

 

Political messaging meets economic reality

 

Both Bessent and Trump acknowledge that industries like defence manufacturing, batteries, and semiconductor fabrication cannot function without legacy expertise currently available only overseas.

 

Trump’s stance reflects an attempt to balance two competing priorities:

 

1. Protecting American wages and jobs via high entry conditions, financial penalties, and strict oversight.

 

2. Bringing back advanced manufacturing by importing foreign mastery for a limited period.

 

The government argues that the H-1B programme, if tightly controlled, is a tool for reshoring critical industries — not a permanent labour import mechanism.

 

What it means for Indian workers

 

Given India’s dominance in the H-1B pipeline — including engineers, IT workers, and physicians — any shift toward temporary “train-and-return” models could reshape Indian migration patterns.

 

• Shorter visa horizons
• Stricter vetting
• Higher compliance costs for employers
• Greater uncertainty for families seeking long-term residency

 

Meanwhile, the new $100,000 filing surcharge and the sweeping investigations increase both the financial and regulatory burden on companies sponsoring Indian workers.

 

The takeaway

 

With the US pushing to rebuild its industrial base, the message from Washington is unmistakable: America still needs foreign talent — but only temporarily, and under the strictest oversight ever.

 

As the Trump administration shapes a more restrictive H-1B landscape, Indian tech and engineering workers remain central to the debate.  With inputs from PTI