Hence the growing disdain for globalization, particularly in the parts of the country that _haven't_ been growing economically. Americans' wages have been stagnant or growing lower than inflation for decades. When that has been occurring, it doesn't make sense for workers to be pro-immigration or pro-globalization, because that would increase labor competition.
If we compete against developers in other countries that have subsidized education, free healthcare, and a lower standard of living, how is that fair to American workers?
Should we _lower_ American standards to compete with them, even though corporate profits are through the roof? Personally, I don't think so. At some point, quality of life needs to be prioritized over return on investment.
Before you say "but it increases the quality of life of that foreigner," we don't live in a global government. I feel that our economy should be controllable by our government, and our government has no control over the economy or laws of another country.
As long as economic prospects deteriorate, they’ll double down and demand the state use their force to enact the desired outcome. And it can’t be said it won’t work, because China does it very well.
Talent is global. Large corporations have satellite offices, and there's a lot of nice places to live outside of the US. If people aren't going to the Bay, then they're going to London, or Berlin or Frankfurt or Paris, because costs in those cities are ultimately similar. Good devs want to go to interesting places.
And if you can't pay for those places, there's a lot of alternatives in satellite offices in countries with a lower cost of living but incredibly talented engineers. Argentina, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, all have their own hubs with substantially lower costs.
No amount of visa restrictions in the US is going to change those variables. And if the engineers can't go to the US, American companies just open satellite offices; Amazon has just opened an important AWS office in Madrid and it's attracting a lot of smart devs of Latin American countries who would be interested in immigrating to places with much different cultures or who can't be arsed to go through the pains of the American visa process.