Rethink the H-1B visa program and stop shutting Americans out of jobs to win Gen Z

The University of Pittsburgh is hiring an event planner at a salary of $45,000.Yes, the compensation is measly and the skill set required is elementary — but rest assured, this is a highly competitive role that no American candidate can fill.At least, that’s what we’re told about this and other H-1B jobs — tens of thousands of them a year.The H-1B visa program, which lets American companies bring in 85,000-plus foreign workers each year, is an increasingly sore subject for young Americans, who feel like they’re being displaced in an already tight job market.If Republicans want to make a play for Gen Z in the November midterm elections, ending or seriously reforming H-1B must be on their agenda.Last week President Donald Trump made another attempt to curb H-1B usage by proposing to charge employers a hefty $103,265 fee for each H-1B worker.But advocates of H-1B — who argue that it’s needed to recruit highly skilled foreigners for advanced work in engineering, science and IT when Americans aren’t up to the task — have previously stymied such moves in the courts.Clearly, it’s in our national interest to poach our rivals’ geniuses.But that’s not necessarily what’s happening — as the Pitt posting attests.All too many companies exploit H-1B to bring in semi-skilled workers willing to be paid chump change compared to what Americans would demand.A growing number of Gen Z and Millennials are objecting to what they see as a government-aided effort to import a cheap, unimpressive underclass that’s stealing their jobs.Anecdotal evidence abounds: A young male relative working in computer science has complained to me about the hand-holding he and his colleagues must do for H-1B arrivals, mainly from India.They resent having to work ever harder, even as their jobs come under threat.“It took my son, a decorated USMC sergeant with two deployments to Iraq and a university IT degree, almost five years to get a job in his chosen field because all the en...