Ro Khanna Pushes for H1B Visa Reform: Higher Wages, Proper Job Classifications, Support for Universities

Plus, the California Democrat critiques Trump’s executive orders on immigration.

Image Rights: Rep. Khanna’s Facebook Profile

On Tuesday, we asked Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) about Trump’s executive orders, plus the future of the H1B visa program and his views on possible reform in the new term. In the 119th Congress, Khanna is a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee (Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies and Information Systems). As always, we offer our immigration Q&As with members complete and unabridged. Read our exchange with Khanna below — 

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Nico: What’s your stance on the H1B visa program?

Ro Khanna: I think it needs reform. I think we need to attract talent to the United States. I think it needs reform.

Nico: Recently, President Trump came out with a good deal of Executive Orders, especially against immigrants…

Ro Khanna: Well, the revoking of birthright, for the kids of H1B visa holders, tourist visa holder, student visa holders, these are people in the country legally. They’re going after kids of legal immigrants. That’s wrong.

Nico: What do you make of the recent Executive Orders on just making it really difficult for people just trying to come here. There’s orders making a stricter vetting process, there’s one against the West Bank, against Afghanistan, so many things are happening, what do you think is the goal?

Ro Khanna: I think we have to have a common sense immigration policy. We want people to come here through the legal process obviously, we want people to be vetted so that they don’t have a criminal background, etc. That’s our advantage, that people want to come here, build a life here, and they’re not lined up to go to China, they’re not lined up to go to Europe. That keeps our country dynamic, it always has, and there has to be a pace to it and a process to it, but we’ll find the balance in the next year.

Nico: You saw that Elon Musk and Bernie Sanders had different opinions about the H1B visa…