Trump says United States doesn’t have talented people to fill jobs domestically

US President Donald Trump has said that the country does not have enough skilled people to fill its vacant job positions, defending the H1-B visa program that is designed to invite talented workers from other countries, including India.

When asked whether his administration would restrict the H1-B visa program over concerns that it would affect American workers, Trump told Fox News, “I agree — but you also do have to bring in talent.”

When the Fox News interviewer said, “We have plenty of talented people here,” Trump responded by saying, “No, you don’t, no you don’t … you don’t have certain talents, and people have to learn. You can’t take people off an unemployment line and say, ‘I’m going to put you into a factory where we’re going to make missiles.’”

The president cited the September ICE raid on a Hyundai facility in Georgia, during which authorities arrested and deported hundreds of South Korean contractors over immigration violations, as evidence of the nation’s ongoing need for skilled foreign workers.

“In Georgia, they raided because they wanted illegal immigrants out — they had people from South Korea that made batteries all their life. You know, making batteries is very complicated. It’s not an easy thing. Very dangerous, a lot of explosions, a lot of problems. They had like 500 or 600 people, early stages, to make batteries and to teach people how to do it. Well, they wanted them to get out of the country,” the president added.

Trump’s statement comes after he signed an executive order in September to impose a whopping $100,000 annual fee on  H-1B visa applications . The ruling was seen as a major blow to the US tech industry, which relies heavily on foreign workers from India and China who use this visa to enter and work in the United States.

Later in that month, US media reports said that the new fees would not be applied to existing holders of valid visas re-entering the country.