Unpacking Trump’s Immigration Overhaul: H-1B Crackdown and Gold Card Revolution

President Donald Trump’s latest immigration proclamation imposes a $100,000 annual fee per new H-1B visa, effectively curbing cheap foreign labor that displaces American STEM workers. In contrast, a new “Gold Card” executive order creates elite pathways for high-value immigrants who invest $1-2 million—potentially generating $100 billion for tax cuts and debt reduction, which was unveiled at a White House Press Conference on Friday.

As explained in Steve Bannon’s War Room interview with immigration expert Rosemary Jenks, these moves mark a pivotal win against corporate wage suppression, prioritizing U.S. workers and fiscal responsibility; however, loopholes remain that demand vigilant oversight.

Bannon: The H-1B's Are A Total And Complete Scam, Not Kind Of A Scam, Not A Partial Scam, Not A Semi Scam. It Is A 100% Total Scam. pic.twitter.com/eigElM7GT8

— Bannon’s WarRoom (@Bannons_WarRoom) September 20, 2025

In the high-stakes arena of America’s economic sovereignty, few issues ignite populist fire like immigration’s underbelly: the H-1B visa program.

Bannon—ever the unyielding voice of MAGA—engaged with Rosemary Jenks, founder of the Immigration Accountability Project (IA Project) and a veteran of the Tea Party-era fights against globalist overreach. Their discussion dissected Trump’s dual immigration salvos, blending fiery rhetoric with data-driven dissection.

For everyday Americans sidelined by Silicon Valley’s labor arbitrage, this is a blueprint for reclaiming the American Dream. Bannon kicks off with a gut punch: H-1B is “a total and complete scam” orchestrated by “oligarchs and Silicon Valley” to flood the market with indentured foreign talent, slashing wages and sidelining qualified U.S. grads. Jenks, whose intellectual gravitas stems from years at NumbersUSA battling open-borders schemes, doesn’t mince words: “The entire program should be eliminated if we care about American workers.”

She lays bare the rot. Since 2012, the number of foreign STEM workers on H-1Bs and feeder programs, such as Optional Practical Training (OPT), has doubled, while U.S. STEM jobs have grown by just 44.5%. Employers pay 36% less for entry-level H-1Bs than American counterparts, fueling a 50% unemployment rate among computer science and engineering graduates—who “did everything right,” as Bannon laments, only to watch opportunities evaporate.

This isn’t happenstance; it’s engineered exploitation, Bannon and Jenks say. OPT allows foreign students to secure jobs post-graduation without paying payroll taxes, providing employers a 7.5% discount over hiring Americans. Government entities—federal, state, local—get cap exemptions, meaning your tax dollars fund the very displacement. Bannon invokes historical echoes: post-2008 bailouts birthed the Tea Party revolt against corporate greed, evolving into Trump’s nationalist surge. Jenks embodies that continuity, having bolted NumbersUSA to launch IA Project for unfiltered advocacy.

Their synergy underscores a core lesson: Immigration isn’t charity; it’s economic warfare. Globalists weaponize it to erode the middle class, from low-skill border surges to high-skill visa ruses.

Enter Trump’s counterstrike: a proclamation (not an executive order) leveraging Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Effective midnight on the announcement date, it mandates a $100,000 annual fee per new H-1B billet—targeting consultancies that chain-migrate workers in “body shops.”

Jenks calls it a “huge win,” especially given Trump’s past flirtations with the program to fund his campaigns. Back in January’s Mar-a-Lago dust-up with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy—whom Bannon skewers as H-1B beneficiaries profiting off “enslaved wage conditions”—this felt like tech bros’ Alamo. Now? Musk is “bleeding out.” The fee makes abuse prohibitive for low-margin outfits, though Jenks flags gaps: It spares the ~1.5 million current H-1Bs and OPTs in-country, ignores OPT transitions, and allows waivers for “public interest” (read: crony carve-outs). Congress? Useless, as always.

But the proclamation’s preamble is gold: It catalogs H-1B’s failures, building the case for abolition. Jenks urges ending OPT, capping government hires, and training Americans first—echoing Bannon’s call to “eradicate” the scam. This is McCarthyism 2.0, Bannon quips: Embrace the label, for history (per Stanton Evans’ Blacklisted by History) vindicates Joe McCarthy’s anti-communist zeal. Just as post-WWII blunders, such as ceding Berlin, empowered adversaries, H-1B cedes innovation to corporatists.

Complementing the clampdown is the “Gold Card” executive order—a merit-based pivot from the old EB visa system’s 281,000 annual admissions (averaging $66,000 salaries, five times likelier to receive welfare). Now, “extraordinary” talents—think job-creators, not job-takers—pay $1 million to the U.S. Treasury or secure $2 million sponsorship. No perpetual residency strings; it’s a transactional genius stroke, projected to net $100 billion for slashing taxes and debt. Bannon admits to initial skepticism but trusts the process: Trump’s imperfections, like those of Lincoln or Washington, yield greatness under pressure.

We need vigilance: Tech titans will scam loopholes; support warriors like Jenks at IAproject.org for analysis.

Second, context: This builds on Trump’s border closures, targeting root causes—illegal influxes depress unskilled wages, H-1Bs gut skilled ones. Third, optimism: From Tea Party to Trump 2028, populism empowers “you,” not elites. As Bannon roars, Divine Providence tests leaders; Trump’s reforms prove he’s rising. In an era of avarice, this is restitution—America First, engineered for the forgotten.