'One H-1B equals 10 illegal aliens': Top US pollster says send back 'third-world engineers' from India
Calling them "third-world engineers", he slammed the Trump administration for not sending back H-1B visa holders.
- Dec 12, 2025,
- Updated Dec 12, 2025 9:50 AM IST
Mark Mitchell, a top US pollster and political commentator, recently said in an interview that sending back a senior developer who came to the US on an H-1B visa was economically equivalent to deporting 10 undocumented immigrants. Mitchell, the CEO of Rasmussen Reports, said the Silicon Valley workforce is "two-thirds foreign-born, whole buildings, 85-95% are Indian nationals".
Calling them “third-world engineers”, he criticised the Trump administration for not sending back H-1B visa holders.
"Every single H-1B, you know, senior developer at Apple that we send back, that's the equivalent economically probably of deporting 10 illegal aliens. So I don't know why we didn't do that yesterday. And the idea, yes, a lot of these people are entry-level, but a lot of them are making a tonne of money," he said in a podcast with Trump's former adviser Steve Bannon.
He explained that an H-1B developer earning about $90,000 per year is, in his view, comparable to importing 10 undocumented workers each earning $9 an hour.
Mitchell said Silicon Valley tech companies, including Apple and Microsoft, depend heavily on immigrant labour and often ignore American workers in favour of a lower-cost workforce. He further claimed that some workplaces, including Walmart, employ around 85–95% Indian nationals.
"These golden pathways let companies replace older American engineers with cheaper third-world labour and even make them train their replacements. It's exploitation dressed up as tech."
Mitchell added that third-world engineers can replace American workers easily since the latter have to worry about their families, and health insurance is more expensive in the US.
"I think a lot of it is used for ageism because you have a bottomless well of younger third-world engineers. You know, people like me who have a family who are a little more expensive, maybe have gotten a few raises. My health insurance is a little more expensive," he said.
Meanwhile, Mitchell said in a post on X that he plans to "de-Indianise" American companies and is willing to start a consultancy to achieve that goal.
"I have never in my life wanted anything more than this: To build a new corporate consultancy helping major firms de-Indianize," Mitchell wrote. "I would work until I drop dead," he responded to a person who commented on the post.
Mark Mitchell, a top US pollster and political commentator, recently said in an interview that sending back a senior developer who came to the US on an H-1B visa was economically equivalent to deporting 10 undocumented immigrants. Mitchell, the CEO of Rasmussen Reports, said the Silicon Valley workforce is "two-thirds foreign-born, whole buildings, 85-95% are Indian nationals".
Calling them “third-world engineers”, he criticised the Trump administration for not sending back H-1B visa holders.
"Every single H-1B, you know, senior developer at Apple that we send back, that's the equivalent economically probably of deporting 10 illegal aliens. So I don't know why we didn't do that yesterday. And the idea, yes, a lot of these people are entry-level, but a lot of them are making a tonne of money," he said in a podcast with Trump's former adviser Steve Bannon.
He explained that an H-1B developer earning about $90,000 per year is, in his view, comparable to importing 10 undocumented workers each earning $9 an hour.
Mitchell said Silicon Valley tech companies, including Apple and Microsoft, depend heavily on immigrant labour and often ignore American workers in favour of a lower-cost workforce. He further claimed that some workplaces, including Walmart, employ around 85–95% Indian nationals.
"These golden pathways let companies replace older American engineers with cheaper third-world labour and even make them train their replacements. It's exploitation dressed up as tech."
Mitchell added that third-world engineers can replace American workers easily since the latter have to worry about their families, and health insurance is more expensive in the US.
"I think a lot of it is used for ageism because you have a bottomless well of younger third-world engineers. You know, people like me who have a family who are a little more expensive, maybe have gotten a few raises. My health insurance is a little more expensive," he said.
Meanwhile, Mitchell said in a post on X that he plans to "de-Indianise" American companies and is willing to start a consultancy to achieve that goal.
"I have never in my life wanted anything more than this: To build a new corporate consultancy helping major firms de-Indianize," Mitchell wrote. "I would work until I drop dead," he responded to a person who commented on the post.