HB-1 visa

Re “Immigration caps are bad for business” (May 18):

Department of Labor: “The H-1B program applies to employers seeking to hire non-immigrant aliens as workers in specialty occupations or as fashion models of distinguished merit and ability. A specialty occupation is one that requires the application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and the attainment of at least a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent.”

Ms. Cid’s whole premise is that she thinks U.S. business cannot survive without foreign workers (i.e., the HB-1 program). It seems like her position is that American workers are simply not smart enough or have sufficient education to fill the positions she so adamantly wants to fill with foreign workers. She obviously feels that American workers do not have the “highly specialized knowledge and have attained at least a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent” necessary to qualify to fill these positions. Really! Maybe a little more effort should be expended by these companies to seek out American workers to fill these positions before simply hiring workers requiring HB-program support.

— Scott Irwin, Fullerton

Trump’s gift

Re “Qatari 747 is like a president’s own gold bug” (May 15):

The newspaper is incensed over Trump accepting this gift. What do they expect him to do? He is trying to broker peace in a very volatile region of the world which he has condemned in the past. Now they want to make peace. Is he to refuse, or accept and use for his and future presidents to replace a plane that has outlived its lifespan?

The idea that he would use it for personal use after his presidency is highly unlikely. Rather he might use it as the now to be replaced Air Force One as President Reagan did in his library.

— Hayden Lening, Claremont

Hillary weighs in

So Hillary Clinton weighed in on the $400 million plane gift to the United States, saying “no one gives a $400 million gift without expecting something in return.”

There are underpinnings to such phrases as the pot calling the kettle black, and I believe Hillary, of all people, just placed herself squarely on the pedestal of such knowledge. Clinton Foundation slush fund anyone? Funny how those donations all dried up with her loss to Trump. Funny indeed!

— Roger Olsen, Burbank