META EMPLOYEE TAKES TO REDDIT TO EXPLAIN ZERO OF THOSE LAID OFF WERE VISA WORKERS
A Meta employee posted on Reddit that they barely survived yesterday's layoffs. Their direct manager had 40-50 reports across two combined teams. Both managers are American citizens. About 40% of the team was on visa.
Yesterday they lost about 15 people combined from both teams. Guess how many of those 15 were on visa vs American?
0 on visa. All 15 were American citizens and green card holders.
Here is the reality:
H-1B workers are captive. Their visa is tied to the employer. They can't job hop, can't negotiate, can't push back. Deportation is the alternative. From a cold management perspective, they are the "safer" employees to keep.
Americans have leverage. They can quit, sue, leave for competitors. That makes them the first to go.
There is no law requiring companies to retain Americans first during layoffs. None. That is the loophole.
No company will ever publish visa status breakdowns of their layoff lists. So this will stay in anecdote territory forever. By design.