The Republican presidential debates are better than watching a televised Japanese sumo match.
Donald Trump said he was flexible enough to change his position on an issue if he was wrong during the debate hosted by Fox News in Detroit Thursday night.
Well, Trump is so flexible on his stance over H-1B visas that he’s bending over backwards. H-1B permits allow companies to hire specialist workers from overseas. As immigration becomes a central issue in the race for the US presidential nomination, the permits have come under scrutiny.
During the debate, the frontrunner in the Republican presidential nominee race changed his stance on allowing highly-skilled migrant workers into the US, before reversing himself back to his original position.
Trump, who is making immigration a big part of his campaign, has said in the past that he was against increasing the number of permits allocated annually. He also said he wants to limit the number of permits by increasing the minimum wage workers on H-1B permits must receive. Trump’s website said such a move would stop firms “flying in cheaper workers from overseas.”
A key part of India’s outsourcing industry has long been to send thousands of its information-technology engineers and programmers to the US on skilled-worker permits.
But during Thursday’s debate, Trump flipped and said, “We need highly-skilled people in this country. If we can’t do it, we will get them in.”
Moderator Megyn Kelly asked him if he was changing his position.
Trump admitted he was, adding, “I’ve never seen a successful person who wasn’t flexible.”
But after the debate that flexibility came full circle. His campaign released a statement recanting everything he had said on television:
“Megyn Kelly asked about highly-skilled immigration. The H-1B program is neither high-skilled nor immigration: these are temporary foreign workers, imported from abroad, for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay. I remain totally committed to eliminating rampant, widespread H-1B abuse and ending outrageous practices such as those that occurred at Disney in Florida when Americans were forced to train their foreign replacements. I will end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor program, and institute an absolute requirement to hire American workers first for every visa and immigration program. No exceptions.”
Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who is running against Trump, slammed The Donald in a statement
“Tonight Donald Trump finally took an actual position,” said Rubio. “But as soon as the debate was over, his handlers made him reverse himself. The Republican nominee cannot be somebody who is totally clueless on so many issues, including his signature issue.”
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