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‘Sending back one H-1B worker equals 10 illegal aliens’: US pollster on Indian techies

Mark Mitchell was speaking at a podcast 'The War Room' with Stephen K Bannon, a former adviser to US President Donald Trump and a MAGA voice on December 8.

Updated on: Dec 11, 2025, 22:50:27 IST
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Mark Mitchell, a leading US commentator and pollster, has hit out at immigration from India and said sending back a senior H-1B developer working at top firms like Apple was economically the same as deporting ten illegal aliens.

Mark Mitchell attacked the leading American tech companies and accused them of relying on low-cost immigrant workforce.
Mark Mitchell attacked the leading American tech companies and accused them of relying on low-cost immigrant workforce.

Mitchell, the head pollster at Rasmussen Reports, was speaking at a podcast 'The War Room' with Stephen K Bannon, a former adviser to US President Donald Trump and a MAGA voice.

"But for every single H-1B, you know, senior developer at Apple that we send back, that's the equivalent economically, probably of deporting ten 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 ton of money," Mitchell said in the podcast, released on December 8.

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Making a sharp critique on immigration, the US pollster said 12 million American tech workers are left jobless, claiming an 'Indification' of the Silicon valley.

"Silicon Valley's got some of the highest real estate, the highest real estate in the entire country. Well, its workforce is roughly 2/3rd foreign born. Walmart buildings that were like 85-95% percent Indian nationals, and so they come in on these you know, these golden pathways, they take these jobs," he added.

He attacked the leading American tech companies and accused them of relying on low-cost immigrant workforce, which tend to bypass American workers.

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"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. Really easy to replace me and have me train my replacement," he argued.

The statement comes in the heels of a March report which said that 66% of technology workers in the Silicon Valley were foreign born. A large chunk of it came from India 23% and China 18%, while only 17% were born in California.

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