Indian technology company Infosys Ltd. plans to hire more American workers instead of foreign labor in response to the Trump administration’s increased scrutiny of the controversial H-1B visa program. The company expects to hire 10,000 domestic workers over the next two years while adding four research hubs to work on technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, Bloomberg reported. Its first new research location will open in Indiana in August 2017 and will ultimately create 2,000 jobs, company officials said. “In the fast-changing world of today, we need the ability to be local. We need to be trusted by our customers as being local,” Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka told Bloomberg. “To work with a mix of global and local talent is absolutely the right thing to do.” The announcement comes after President Donald Trump’s executive order directing the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to take a closer looks at potential abuses in the H-1B visa program. Critics say the program, which lets U.S. companies hire foreign workers with technical skills if they can’t find them domestically, provides legal cover for firms to replace American workers with cheaper imported labor. |