There's a substantial difference between actions like that where they're clearly out-sourcing to slash costs and situations where you're trying to build an engineering team with top talent and want to tap the top 1% from all over the world, not just the local labor pool.
The reason there's a lot of foreign workers in the valley is becaus these companies poach the best. Just look at how many Canadian software engineering graduates are sponged up by Valley firms: It's a constant drain on talent. The Valley picks the best because in many cases the Valley can pay the best rates. This is not "We hired X because they were 50% cheaper than Y", it's "We hired X and Y because they're the best in their fields."
Attacking foreign workers as a whole is a serious problem. These firms want the best talent, and the best talent is not exclusively American.
Attacking deliberate undercutting efforts like Disney's is something that's reasonable. Disney had a team that could do the job that they cut loose so they could hire another cheaper team using foreign workers. That shouldn't be as easy to do as it is.
Don't think that slamming the door on foreign workers will magically make American salaries go up. It'll mean the average talent will go down, and salaries will be roughly the same for the same amount of talent anyway.
These companies will just open up satellite offices and hire foreign workers anyway. They just won't pay American taxes.
I suspect another reason that politicians are so eager to stomp on H1B workers is because they're an easy target: most people don't care, and the H1B workers themselves can't vote, so pandering to anti-foreigner hysteria is a good bet for a politician...
The reason there's a lot of foreign workers in the valley is becaus these companies poach the best. Just look at how many Canadian software engineering graduates are sponged up by Valley firms: It's a constant drain on talent. The Valley picks the best because in many cases the Valley can pay the best rates. This is not "We hired X because they were 50% cheaper than Y", it's "We hired X and Y because they're the best in their fields."
Attacking foreign workers as a whole is a serious problem. These firms want the best talent, and the best talent is not exclusively American.
Attacking deliberate undercutting efforts like Disney's is something that's reasonable. Disney had a team that could do the job that they cut loose so they could hire another cheaper team using foreign workers. That shouldn't be as easy to do as it is.
Don't think that slamming the door on foreign workers will magically make American salaries go up. It'll mean the average talent will go down, and salaries will be roughly the same for the same amount of talent anyway.
These companies will just open up satellite offices and hire foreign workers anyway. They just won't pay American taxes.