Of course it benefits FB, but I'm not convinced it's about cost. FB is almost constantly hiring, implying there are more open positions than available qualified candidates. That coupled with what seems like on par compensation for H1B employees + the added cost of sponsoring a H1B worker to me means it's about hiring enough qualified candidates rather than saving money.

You can argue FB (and other FAANG companies) can just pay more. But 1) the FAANG compensation is already plenty high and 2) the talent pool is finite, and if FB pulls more from the local pool there is just less left for other companies. As it is less well known tech companies were (pre covid anyways) already having a hard time hiring because they can't afford to pay FAANG comp. Theoretically if you get rid of H1B workers and force up top end compensation, then we'll just have less workers available for the lower tier companies.

If companies like Facebook and Amazon had such a hard time hiring engineers, they wouldn't be cutting 10% of the workforce every year based on mostly political yearly reviews. That's why they are always constantly "hiring". Having visa workers that can be easily overworked is a huge bonus to try and force 80 hour work weeks and a toxic rat race.

The average engineer at these companies is not all that competent, the interview process is very noisy. I know many people barely able to write basic stuff like fizzbuzz, lots of them slither their way into middle or upper management.

All those costs are written off as expenses when the company files taxes. Perhaps we should double the tax instead to cover unemployment for the american that didn’t get a job?

You have to start somewhere. The best place to start is with jobs that Americans can be more easily trained for.