IT firm Oracle announced a brutal layoff impacting 30,000 employees across the world in a 6am email on March 31. Informing the employees that March 31 was their last working day, the email said the elimination of the role was a part of a broader organizational change. The major layoff raised the crucial question of 'offshoring,' and many on social media asked the number of H-1B visa holders Oracle has. H-1B is a specialty visa program for hiring foreign workers with specific qualifications, but this program emerged as the most controversial one as companies are accused of abusing the visa program to hire foreigners at lower wages and firing Americans.
Indian-origin US doctor Pradheep J Shanker weighed in on the Oracle layoff discussion and said he thinks the H-1B discussion on social media is biased but he thinks every single H-1B should be sent back before a company starts laying off Americans. He was replying to right-wing media personality Mike Cernovich who asked: "How many H-1Bs does Oracle have?"
