Prescription

* stop subsidizing cross-border bodyshoppers

* tax breaks should be created/increased for costs to interview US citizens for jobs

* tax breaks should be created/increased for costs to relocate US citizen employees within the USA

* tax breaks should be created/increased for employer investment in education and/or training of US citizen employees (and maybe even a break for donations to scholarships for capable students in the general population)

* end visa waiver programs

* count only US citizens for purposes of determininig numbers and districts of US representatives

* fence all 8,600 miles of border, first quickly with 8 foot high chain-link fence and vehicle barriers, then with more substantial fencing/walls

* patrol the borders with at least 30K fully-armed troops

* run proper background investigations on every visa applicant (and charge full reasonable costs)

* set in place means to track visa-holders from entry to exit, with quarterly reports to the public of estimates of average daily presence by visa type

* moratorium on F, H-1B, H-2B, H-1C, J, L visas for 6 months, 12 months, 5 years, 20 years, whatever we can get so that dysfunctional US job markets can recover

* significantly cut visa program levels (80%-99%; e.g. set the aggregate hard limit of E-3 plus H-1B plus L visas to 2K per year and eliminate all "exemptions"; set the aggregate limit of J visas to 2K per year; set the aggregate limit of F visas to 5K per year; set the aggregate of H-2B visas to 1K per year, and so on)

* adopt a 1% rule: once a firm has 1% of its employees here on guest-work visas or green cards (LPR visas) they are no longer eligible to sponsor or employ more

* auction off such visas monthly to the highest bidders (above the costs for paper-work handling, background investigations, etc.), and tightly link the bid amount to the compensation package

* if you want to have a visa for "the best and brightest" then there'd better be some reasonable criteria by which to determine whether an applicant is "best" or "brightest";
  + a score of over 160 on a Wechsler IQ test AND Stanford-Binet,
  + aggregate ACT score above 34 (31 if you took the test before 1970),
  + aggregate (2-part) SAT score above 1550 or aggregate "new" (3-part) SAT score above 2200,
  + aggregate GRE above 1615,
  + PCAT in 99th percentile,
  + cumulative MCAT above 35,
  + LSAT of 175 or higher, or equivalent,
  + or a dozen significant US patents or a Nobel prize in physical/biological/medical science plus a doctor's degree would make an appropriate floor

* if you want to have a business investment visa, then require that they bring in at least enough of their own money to start a tiny business ($150K; about what it costs to build a burger kiosk), and that they raise twice that much from non-US investors (to cover operating expenses and salaries), then require that they employ at least 2 non- related US citizens immediately, 6 non-related US citizens within the first 6 months, and 10 non-related US citizens within the first year

* put some teeth into US recruiting requirements and apply them to all work visa sponsors, not just those who hire 15% of their total work-force via such visas, and not just those who pay slightly below the average pay for competent US STEM workers (i.e. eliminate the $60K salary exemption since this is below the wet-behind-the-ears college new-hire salary offer, and the college/university exemption and the research center exemption)

* eliminate OPT (in conjunction with F visas)

* eliminate quangos (quasi-non-governmental organizations; some call this particular sub-type GSEs, government-sponsored enterprises) like Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Sallie Mae...

* cut non-military federal compensation by 20%, but cut total compensation for congress-critters by 30% and cut total compensation for federal judges by 25%

* eliminate the Socialist Insecurity Abomination and Federal Insurance Contributions Act

* eliminate Medicare, Medicaid, Federal Hospital Insurance, Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance, and Obummercare

* eliminate the federal loan program for hospital construction/expansion, and its "must treat" strings along with it, and repeal EMTALA (42 USC 1395dd, PL99-272, 100 Stat. 164)

* eliminate estate taxes (and qualified terminable-interest property trusts [Q-TIPs], charitable remainder annuity trusts [CRATs], charitable lead annuity trusts [CLATs], charitable lead unitrusts [CLUTs], and charitable remainder unitrusts [CRUTs] with them)

* phase out the Pension Guaranty fund/admin and return to oversight aimed at fraud prevention

* eliminate federal income extortion, or go to a flat tax such that local+state+federal rates are less than 10% for each wage-earner/salaried individual (not merely per capita)

* eliminate the Federal Reserve and return to sound, full-bodied precious metal coinage (I don't care whether it's gold, platinum, palladium, titanium, nickel, zinc or copper; just pick one and stick with it.)

There was no shortage of gifted, knowledgeable, creative, industrious US citizen STEM workers.

There is no shortage of talented US citizen STEM workers.

No credible evidence of impending shortage of gifted, knowledgeable, industrious US citizen STEM workers has been produced.