Amid renewed scrutiny of the H-1B visa programme, US pollster Mark Mitchell stirs row with call to “de-Indianise” firms and claim that “one H-1B worker equals ten illegal aliens”
Amid renewed attention on the H-1B visa programme, Mark Mitchell, a US commentator and pollster, sparked controversy after suggesting that major American companies should “de-Indianise” themselves.
He said he plans to set up a consultancy to help firms with this process. His comments, posted on X, triggered online debate over the role of Indian professionals in the US technology sector.
“I have never in my life wanted anything more than this: to build a new corporate consultancy helping major firms de-Indianise,” Mitchell wrote.
His remarks came days after he criticised the rising number of Indian professionals in the United States under the H-1B visa system during a podcast.
Attack on the H-1B visa
Speaking on ‘The War Room’ podcast with Stephen Bannon, Mitchell spoke against Indian dominance in the H-1B programme and claimed that sending back a senior H-1B developer at a company like Apple was economically similar to deporting ten illegal migrants.
“But for every single H-1B, you know, senior developer at Apple that we send back, that’s the equivalent economically, probably, of deporting ten illegal aliens. So, I do not know why we did not do that yesterday. And the idea, yes, a lot of these people are entry level, but a lot of them are making a tonne of money,” he said in the podcast released on December 8.
He also claimed that 12 million American tech workers had been left unemployed because a “foreign-born workforce” had “indificated” Silicon Valley.
“Silicon Valley’s got some of the highest real estate in the entire country. Well, its workforce is roughly two-thirds foreign born. Walmart buildings that were like 85–95 per cent Indian nationals, and so they come in on these golden pathways and they take these jobs,” he said.
Mitchell accused major American tech companies of relying on a low-cost immigrant workforce that he claimed bypasses American workers. He argued that senior American engineers are being overlooked because firms have a “bottomless well of younger third-world engineers”.
“You know, people like me who have a family, who are a little more expensive, maybe have got a few raises. My health insurance is a little more expensive. Really easy to replace me and have me train my replacement,” he said.
“A single H-1B developer earning 90,000 dollars is like importing ten undocumented labourers earning nine dollars an hour,” he added.
Mitchell’s comments came soon after a report showed that around 66 per cent of the tech workforce is foreign born, including 23 per cent Indians and 18 per cent Chinese.
Mitchell’s “de-Indianise” comment drew strong criticism online, with several users accusing him of racism.
One user wrote, “If you said you wanted to make major American firms de-Jew you would not have a career left. However, in the American conservative world it is OK to be openly racist towards a model minority.”
Another said, “Note that this nut has moved from H-1Bs all the way to ‘Indians’, meaning even US-born, second-generation Indian-Americans are people he wants to disenfranchise.”
A third user commented, “Imagine saying this about ANY other ethnic group. Gee, maybe this is why your employability is limited.”
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