White House Tech Summit Includes Discussion of H1-B Visas

Tlm Cook, Ginni Rometti Tech Summit Chip SomodevillaGetty
Chip Somodevilla/Getty

President Donald Trump and his team of White House officials will discuss the issue of H1-B visas during the tech summit Monday — an issue of high importance for CEOs in the tech industry.

“The president is going into this meeting to listen,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer responded, when asked by Breitbart News if the president was open to the idea of expanding H1-B visas.

According to a White House official, H1-B visas would be one of many topics discussed with White House staff and the CEOs during the meeting.

Spicer pointed to Trump’s promised reform of the entire visa program when asked about whether or not he supported the EB-5 visa program — one that allows some foreign investors in American businesses to legally stay in the United States.

At a Republican primary debate at Miami University during the campaign, Trump said that he favored ending the program.

“I know the H1-B very well. We shouldn’t have it, it’s very, very bad for workers,” he said, calling it “unfair to our workers.”

The four-hour tech meeting began this afternoon with remarks from White House senior advisor Jared Kushner, who focused on the changes that technology companies could bring to the United States government.

“Together we will unleash the creativity of the private sector to provide citizen services in a way that has never happened before,” Kushner said.

Trump is expected to make remarks later this afternoon.

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