Marco Rubio criticized Disney during a CNN GOP debate Thursday night. The Florida senator, who supports the H-1B visa program, was asked if the program takes jobs away from Americans after pointing out how Disney laid off 250 Orlando-based tech workers in late 2014, which were later replaced with foreign workers.
“If it’s abused the way Disney did,” Rubio answered. “It is illegal now under that program to use it to replace American workers. If a company is caught doing that, Disney or anyone else, they should be barred from using that program in the future.”
The senator explained that under new guidelines companies “have to prove, not only that you’re not replacing Americans but that you’ve tried to hire Americans.”
He also pointed out that in many cases, companies don’t directly hire foreign workers. They use consulting companies for H-1B visas.
“The second problem with the current structure of the program that people perhaps don’t understand is a lot of these companies are not directly hiring employees from abroad. They are hiring a consulting company like Tata, for example, out of India. That company then hoards up all of these visas. They hire workers,” said Rubio.
GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump admitted to using the H-1B visa program, but called for an end to it.
“First of all, I think and I know the H-1B very well, and it’s something that I frankly use, and I shouldn’t be allowed to use it. We shouldn’t have it,” Trump said. “It’s very bad for business in terms of — and it’s very bad for our workers, and it’s unfair for our workers, and we should end it.”
