Charleston, South Carolina

A Rising Generation Demands Proof

A reckoning is underway on the Right, and it’s not being driven by consultants or think tanks. It’s coming from Gen Z conservatives who are tired of being told America must import talent while their peers scramble for work. Nalin Haley, son of Ambassador Nikki Haley, has stepped into that fray by calling for tougher immigrant assimilation, sounding alarms on crime, and spotlighting the brutal job market facing young Americans. His message captures a widening sentiment: put American workers first, strengthen our civic culture, and rebuild national confidence from within.

At the same time, President Trump recently told Laura Ingraham that the United States needs to bring in “certain talents” that the country supposedly lacks. The line sparked debate across the America First coalition. Supporters argue it was a practical nod to competitiveness. Critics heard a concession to corporate convenience that undermines the core promise to train and hire our own people.

The split is real. The question before the movement is bigger than one program or soundbite: Do we keep defaulting to foreign labor pipelines, or do we choose the harder road of developing our own innovators, builders, and citizens?

The Case Against H‑1B Dependency

Before diving into data, let’s make the case plain. The H‑1B system has evolved into a modern form of corporate outsourcing—only this time, the cheap labor isn’t overseas; it’s imported here. When an American company replaces qualified citizens with foreign contractors, it’s not just undermining wages; it’s rewriting the social contract. We are not only outsourcing labor but importing foreign cultures, ideologies, and loyalties under the guise of “global competitiveness.”

This isn’t about xenophobia—it’s about sovereignty. A nation that relies on foreign labor to build its own future risks losing control of that future altogether.

The Numbers Behind the Debate

Federal law caps new H‑1B approvals at 85,000 per year (65,000 regular + 20,000 for those with U.S. advanced degrees). In FY2024, roughly 400,000 H‑1B petitions were approved, but around 65% were renewals—meaning just 140,000 new slots for foreign workers.

Today, between 600,000 and 700,000 H‑1B workers are employed in the United States. Roughly 65% of those jobs are in computer and mathematical occupations, 9% in architecture and engineering, and 4% in health care. Amazon, Cognizant, Infosys, and Google remain top sponsors.

By contrast, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports unemployment in computer‑related fields around 3%, with even lower rates in engineering. While these numbers don’t prove every American worker is qualified for every role, they do show that an available pool of talent exists. When paired with 260,000 U.S. tech layoffs in 2023, the imbalance becomes moral as well as economic.

Wage data from the Department of Labor reveals about 60% of H‑1B jobs are certified below the local median wage—a legal way to undercut Americans and shrink their career prospects. If the purpose were to attract geniuses, not bargain labor, wages would rise—not fall.

The takeaway: H‑1B visas aren’t filling a talent gap; they’re filling a cost gap. The claim of “shortages” masks a policy choice that benefits corporations and bureaucrats at the expense of citizens.

Policy Reform: Punitive Costs and American Incentives

If we are serious about protecting citizens first, reform must shift the cost‑benefit equation.

Make it expensive. Set H‑1B application fees high enough—say $500,000 per worker—that only truly exceptional candidates justify the cost. This would end mass corporate abuse overnight while preserving openings for genuine innovators.

Set clear limits. Cap the number of H‑1B holders as a percentage of a company’s total workforce—for instance, no more than 5% of any team. This prevents entire departments from being replaced en masse and ensures immigrants supplement rather than supplant Americans.

Mandate wage parity. Require that H‑1B employees be paid at least the median wage of their peers in the same company and position. Paying less depresses the market; paying more is politically untenable. The median keeps fairness intact.

Demand proof—and penalties. Employers must prove good‑faith recruitment of U.S. citizens first. Violations should carry steep fines and multi‑year bans from future visa sponsorship.

These are not anti‑immigrant policies—they are pro‑citizen policies. They restore accountability to a system that’s become too comfortable exploiting legal loopholes.

The Gen Z Response: Loyalty to Citizens First

Gen Z conservatives have watched this contradiction unfold in real time. They’ve seen friends graduate into layoffs and unpaid internships while multinational companies fly in replacements at lower cost. When Nalin Haley says Americans deserve jobs first, he is voicing what a generation feels in its bones: the social contract is broken if a nation won’t prioritize its own.

This isn’t hostility to immigrants. It is loyalty to citizens. Every nation has a moral duty to cultivate the talent of its people, pass down a shared civic identity, and protect the wage floor for families trying to build a future. When policy shortcuts become a substitute for forming citizens, the result is a thinner culture, a weaker labor market, and a fragile nation.

The America First answer is not retreat from the world. It is renewal at home. Apprenticeships, STEM investment, regional R&D hubs, and serious classical education do more for national strength than any revolving door of temporary visas. A self‑respecting country believes it can produce the talent it needs.

Trump’s “Certain Talents” Comment: Prudence or Step Back?

President Trump’s remark about bringing in “certain talents” landed amid his administration’s tougher H‑1B fee hikes and proposed lottery changes. The policy trend signals an intention to curb abuse and push employers to train Americans. Yet the comment itself raised alarms because it echoed a familiar establishment refrain: that America lacks what it needs and must shop abroad.

The America First critique is straightforward. If we always assume a domestic shortage, we will always justify foreign recruitment. That mindset invites complacency in education, weakens bargaining power for U.S. workers, and lets executives avoid the cost of training. Worse, it erodes confidence in the next generation by implying they cannot meet the standard.

Prudence in a crisis is one thing. A standing dependency is another. The movement’s mandate is to end the dependency. Limits and selectivity can exist, but they must serve a larger project: rebuilding American talent pipelines so that importing labor becomes the rare exception, not the norm.

Building Our Own Innovators: The Investment Blueprint

If America truly faces a skills gap, the solution is cultivation, not importation.

Who invests: Redirect H‑1B visa fees into a National Apprenticeship and Innovation Fund, matched by state grants. Offer training tax credits for companies that build multi‑year apprenticeships leading to permanent jobs.

Where it happens: Focus on community colleges, trade schools, and regional R&D hubs linked to major industries—semiconductors in Ohio, advanced manufacturing in the Midwest, and cybersecurity in Texas and Virginia.

How it works:

• Require proof that no qualified U.S. candidate was available before any H‑1B hire.
• Set wage floors at or above the median for all H‑1B positions.
• Publish transparent data dashboards showing which firms invest in Americans—and which rely on foreign pipelines.

This is “build here, hire here” in practice—not just rhetoric.

The Future of the Right: From Corporate to Citizen Conservatism

Nalin Haley’s challenge is timely. If the Right offers only a cleaner, friendlier version of corporate globalism, it will lose the generation that believes America can stand on its own feet. The task is to recover a culture that forms citizens, a market that rewards work, and a state that remembers its first duty is to its people.

President Trump’s record shows willingness to break with elite consensus on trade, borders, and bureaucracy. The movement that made that possible should not drift back into dependency. The way forward is clear: rebuild talent at home, reserve visas for true scarcity, demand assimilation, and restore the honor of American work.

America’s Mandate

A flourishing economy means little if its people cannot flourish with it. The purpose of growth is the good of citizens. America does not need to apologize for putting its people first. The path to renewal runs through classrooms, workshops, labs, churches, and small businesses. Gen Z conservatives are right to demand more than talk—they want a country that believes in them enough to train them, hire them, and expect greatness. That is the American way—and it is worth defending.

Sources

• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — H‑1B Cap Season and Annual Reports
• Pew Research Center — “What We Know About the U.S. H‑1B Visa Program”
• Department of Labor — H‑1B Wage Level Certification Data
• Economic Policy Institute — H‑1B Wage Analysis (60% below median)
• Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Unemployment Data
• TechCrunch / Layoffs.fyi — 2023 U.S. Tech Layoff Report