MAGA narrative on H-IB has done lasting damage

Donald Trump won the US presidential election in November 2024 promising to crack down on illegal immigration.

- Frank F Islam

True to form, his second term has featured highly visible deportation operations targeting undocumented migrants. But nearly one year into Trump's presidency, the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement he created is spending as much energy aiming its guns toward a different target: the H-IB visa programme, and, by extension, Indian immigrants more broadly.

For decades, the H-IB visa programme was framed as America's gateway for global talent: atechnocratic instrument meant to keep the US competitive in science, technology, engineering, and innovation. Itwas imperfect and often controversial, but it occupied a relatively narrow policy lane, debated in terms of labour markets, ‘wages, and skills shortages. Over the past year, that framing has changed.

The H-IB programme has been recast in the American public imagination not asa talent pipeline, butasa symbol of job displacement, corporate abuse, and unfair competition. This shift did not happen overnight. It has been driven and amplified by politics, populist rhetoric, anda sustained campaign to associate the visa with economic insecurity among native-born workers.

The turning point came in September, when Trump issued a presidential proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee to process new H-IB petitions. That markeda clear escalation. Since then, H-IB workers have found themselves squarely in the crosshairs of MAGA influencers, conservative media figures, and online activists.

What followed was not a single policy change, but a sequence of administrative and rhetorical actions that together signalled a broader crackdown.