For now border security and keeping country safe is reform priority: White House spokesman.
Despite the introduction of a plethora of bills and the circulation of a draft executive order seeking to reform the H-1B visa program, the White House indicated on Thursday that it  will not revamp the program at least until April 1.
April 1 is the day the US Citizenship and Immigration Services will begin accepting H-1B petitions for the 2018 fiscal year.
Asked if the administration has any plans to revamp the H-1B visa program by the April 1 deadline, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said at the media briefing Thursday that there “is a natural desire to have a full look at — a comprehensive look at†issues such as H-1B and H4 spousal visas.
He made it clear that the administration’s priority is tackling illegal immigration. “The President’s actions that he’s taken in terms of his executive order and other revamping of immigration policy have focused on our border security, keeping our country safe, our people safe,†he said, according to the transcript of the briefing.
Here is the whole exchange:
REPORTER: And then, secondly, does he have any plans to revamp the H-1B visa program by the April 1 deadline?
SPICER: I think we’ve talked before about immigration as a whole. I think there is the legal part of immigration and then the illegal part of immigration. The President’s actions that he’s taken in terms of his executive order and other revamping of immigration policy have focused on our border security, keeping our country safe, our people safe. And then, obviously, whether it’s H-1B visas or the other one — spousal visas — other areas of student visas, I think there is a natural desire to have a full look at — a comprehensive look at that.
Spicer’s answer rules out any major rule changes to the program, including the issuance of an executive order on H-1B prior to April 1, at the very least.
That would mean the current regular cap of 65,000 will remain the same in FY 2018. So will the current minimum wage of $60,000.
Trump vows executive order against H-1B abuses (December 10, 2016)
In a trip to Iowa in December, his first since his victory, Trump had promised to bring an executive order to end H-1B abuses.
“One of my first executive orders will be to ask the Department of Labor to investigate all visa abuses that undermine jobs and wages for the American worker,†he said at a “thank-you†rally.
In fact, the administration had circulated a draft of an executive order on H-1B visas.
Ro Khanna introduces bipartisan bill to reduce H-1B, L1 ‘fraud and abuse’ (March 3, 2017)
The draft, which was seen by news organizations and immigration lawyers, “mandates that the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security issue a new regulation within 90 days “‘to restore the integrity of employment-based nonimmigrant worker programs and better protect U.S. and foreign workers affected by those programs,’†the Wall Street Journal reported February 1.
The past two months have also seen a number of bills being introduced, or in some cases, reintroduced in Congress, seeking to reform the H-1B visa program.
New H-1B reform bill proposing twofold hike in minimum wage introduced in House of Representatives
A bipartisan bill to “reform and reduce fraud and abuse†in H-1B and L1 visa was introduced in the US House of Representatives on March 2.
A bill, introduced by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-California) on January 24, proposed doubling the current minimum wage from $60,000 to $130,000.