AOL Co-Founder Steve Case: Trump's Goal of Buy, Hire American is Right Thing
AOL Co-Founder and ‘The Third Wave’ author Steve Case says he supports President Trump's ‘buy American, hire American’ executive order to reform America’s H-1B visa program. “The goal of buying American, hiring American is of course the right thing," Case told the FOX Business Network’s Neil Cavuto. Case said the U.S. should be enforcing existing laws and reviewing the visa program. "I'm fine with that," he said.
On the other hand, Case says we should also be supporting innovation in America as well.
“At the same time we need to continue to invent in America and part of the theme of ‘The Third Wave’ is how do we win in this next wave and create the right kind of environment for entrepreneurs all across the country, not just in places like Silicon Valley.”
Case pointed out the influence of immigration on America’s biggest tech companies and the jobs they generated.
“We need to remember that part of what’s made America great is being a magnet of talent from all around the world. Some of our great companies have immigrant roots. The founder of Apple was a son of a Syrian refugee, the founder of Google was a son of a Russian immigrant, so we want to welcome those people who can create the companies that can create the jobs here."
Last September, Case endorsed Hillary Clinton in an op-ed for The Washington Post, citing Clinton's positions on innovation and immigration. “Two big concerns there," Case said of his endorsement. "One was some of his [Trump’s] rhetoric around immigration which I thought was unhelpful, I still believe that to be the case. Hopefully the policies around immigration including things like the startup visa will be different.”
Secondly, Case was concerned about “a lack of specificity on his [Trump’s] policy around innovation, entrepreneurship.”