Cheap Migrants Are Being Imported to Replace U.S. Teachers
by Warner Todd Huston
School districts are increasingly turning to importing teachers from foreign nations to work for lower pay than American teachers, but the Trump administration is making visas harder to get and that is threatening a hiring practice that undermines professional teachers in America.
In one tale about a foreign teacher from the Philippines hired by a rural school district in North Carolina, for instance, it noted that the district was hiring some 3,600 foreign teachers because American teachers feel underpaid.
“In Halifax, international teachers are now the majority of educators in the district—109 out of 156 teachers across 11 schools. A total of 75 have H-1B status, while the rest are here on J-1 visas,” the site Border Belt Independent reported.
The foreign teacher highlighted in the story even excuses his being hired by the Columbus County school system.
“A lot of local American teachers are leaving schools because they don’t feel like they earn enough,” he exclaimed. “We’re helping to fill the gaps. We’re not taking jobs from locals.”
But in reality, he is taking jobs away from Americans because the school systems are underpaying foreign workers so they don’t have to hire Americans at higher wages.
In an appearance in Irving, Texas, this month, Dallas Express reporter Kellen Jones pointed out how importing workers hurts American workers.
“When people hear ‘H-1B,’ they tend to think it’s a distant Washington issue,” Jones said ahead of his appearance. “In reality, it affects who gets hired, who gets laid off, what wages look like, and how local tax dollars are spent in places like Irving”
“This isn’t just about immigration policy in the abstract,” Jones added. “It’s about whether communities are subsidizing labor decisions that displace local workers or suppress wages, and whether taxpayers are getting an honest accounting of where their money is going. The program has legitimate tradeoffs, and we should be truthful about what those are.”
At the event, Jones noted that schools are a key actor in the problems facing American workers.