There is no dearth of commentariat on how structural economic changes linked to globalisation and neoliberal capitalism have simply failed to serve the majority of humanity. US President Donald Trump’s latest decision to increase H1B visa fee from $1,000 to staggering $100,000 should be another moment of reckoning for those who throw their weight behind neoliberal globalisation.In its constant search for cheap labour, the economic model has resulted in a structural contradiction in the sense that rising economic growth rates could not arrest the sweeping tide of unemployment, inequality, ecological destruction, and political backlash.Trump’s latest move, which virtually dashed American dreams of millions of Indians, should not be seen as an isolated event but a definitive consequence of the dysfunctional global capitalism. By making the visa regime prohibitively expensive, the Trump administration has sought to address the domestic discontent while striking hard at a mechanism that once embodied neoliberal globalisation: the free movement of labour.Neo-liberal framework: The double movement of capital and labourSince the rise of neoliberalism, free movement of capital and labour across borders has been a core principle of global economic integration. As Marx forewarned, capital constantly seeks to minimise labour costs to find new ways of organising production for maximising profits. The post-Fordist model –marked by flexible production, fragmented supply chains, and outsourcing – enabled corporations to shift manufacturing to countries with cheaper labour, particularly China and India.This shift virtually wiped-out manufacturing jobs in the Global North, especially in the US, leaving many white working-class communities unemployed. The decline of US manufacturing employment represents one of the most significant economic transformations in the American history, fundamentally reshaping the nation’s industrial landscape and working-class communities. As per estimates, US manufacturing employment peaked at 19.6 million jobs in 1979 and has fallen to just 12.9 million in 2025—a loss of 6.7 million jobs representing a 34.2% decline over 46 years. Even more dramatic is manufacturing sector’s shrinking share of total employment, which plummeted from 22.1% in 1980 to just 8.0% today—a decline of 14.1 percentage points.The decline of US manufacturing sector since the 1980s represents more than cyclical economic change, for it reflects the systematic dismantling of America’s industrial base through structural adjustment policies that prioritised short-term profits over long-term productive capacity. It has fundamentally altered the American economy and society.Parallelly, the US and other developed economics have transitioned from a manufacturing-based economy to one dominated by services and knowledge work. As a result, service sector employment has exploded from 65 million jobs (65% of total employment) in 1980 to 137.7 million jobs (79.1% of total employment) by 2025.This transformation was not gradual but accelerated dramatically after 2000, when knowledge work became the dominant mode of value creation in the American economy. This shift created acute demand for highly skilled workers with specialised technical expertise, particularly in emerging fields like software development, data science, and artificial intelligence.The transition fundamentally reshaped immigration patterns, creating unprecedented demand for foreign skilled workers while displacing domestic manufacturing employment. Additionally, it was also a result of the mismatch between domestic educational output and knowledge economy requirements. As per latest estimates, about 74% of electrical engineering students and 72% of computer science students at US universities are international.From the 2000s onward, the information technology industry, in particular, has drawn large numbers of immigrants from Asia, especially India, willing to work for lower wages.This “double movement” of capital relocating production abroad and labour migrating into high-skill sectors has created profound dislocations in domestic labour markets. The results, therefore, have been un: rising unemployment among natives (particularly in STEM fields), fuelling resentment against immigrants, and nationalist backlash.The biggest beneficiaries of this shift in the Indian context have been the upper caste middle classes. These sections of the Indian society have benefited from the opening of the Indian economy and the emerging knowledge economy have migrated to US and it has become a dream for many upper caste middle class Indians to get a job in the US.What neo-liberal capitalism has done in its constant search for cheap labour is that it has created a structural contradiction of economic growth on the one hand but undermined the condition of social reproduction of the labour force on the other.Trump’s policies and the Indian predicamentTrump’s restrictive H-1B policies directly target this dependency. By imposing a $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications – an increase of over 2,000% – the policy effectively prices out most applicants and employers, limiting the programme to only the wealthiest firms and the most exceptional cases. Since the median annual salary of many H-1B workers is lower than the new fee itself, the policy renders participation economically unfeasible.For Indian workers, the impact is twofold. First, they face heightened hostility and violence amid a surge of xenophobic rhetoric. In California alone, hate crimes rose by 2.7% between 2023 and 2024, with immigrants as primary targets.Second, Indian engineers now contend with the accelerating displacement of entry-level jobs by artificial intelligence. In 2025, AI was responsible for 77,999 job cuts across 342 tech company layoffs – equivalent to nearly 500 workers losing jobs to AI each day. Major corporations such as Microsoft, IBM, and Salesforce have openly admitted replacing thousands of employees with AI systems, shrinking opportunities for immigrant and native workers alike.Rising anti-immigrant sentiments in the Global NorthIn recent years, hostility towards immigrant workers has intensified across the United States, Europe, Australia, and the United Kingdom. The fundamental reason for this discontent is rising unemployment, with native populations blaming immigrant labour for job losses, and wage suppression.Political parties have mobilised these frustrations to gain power, reviving primordial identities and nationalist slogans such as “Make America Great Again” in the US or equivalent appeals in Europe. These political developments have facilitated the resurgence of far-right political movements.Across the United Kingdom, protests have erupted in cities like London, Epping, and Horley, with groups such as Britain First organising demonstrations outside hotels housing asylum seekers. In Australia, rallies under the banner of “March for Australia” drew thousands, calling for an end to “mass migration” and sparking violent attacks with counter-protesters.In the United States, the FBI recorded 11,679 hate crimes in 2024 – the second-highest total since records began – over half of which were racially motivated. In Europe, far-right parties are now part of government in seven countries, while in Germany, Alternative for Germany (AfD) has doubled its electoral share since the last election, reaching over 20% in February 2025.Therefore, the surge in xenophobia is not merely cultural but rooted in structural economic changes linked to globalisation and neoliberal capitalism.The paradox of systemic functionalityDespite these crises, neoliberal capitalist economic model persists. Economic growth continues to be treated as non-negotiable, even when it exacerbates inequality and ecological destruction. Democratic institutions function, but increasingly at a distance from popular demands. Economic nationalism and individualism remain entrenched, sustained by divisive ideologies rather than collective solidarity.This paradox raises urgent questions: How does the system continue to function despite its contradictions? At what cost, and to whose benefit? What counter-tendencies might emerge to challenge its reproduction?Restrictive immigration measures set off by Trump are not solutions but symptoms of a larger breakdown.The crisis is, therefore, not simply about immigration or trade, but it is about the sustainability of a global economic model that no longer serves the majority of humanity. Until these systemic contradictions are confronted directly, nationalist policies will continue to emerge as desperate attempts to manage the fallout of a world order in crisis.What we are seeing is a ‘double movement’ in the Polanyian sense – the expansion of the market economy, free movement of capital and labour – provoking a protective counter movement of right-wing populism and nationalist restrictions. It is a systemic problem that is deeply embedded within the global economic structures created by the neo-liberal capitalism and it is not going to go away anytime soon.Dr A Chandrashekar Reddy is Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, PUC, Mizoram University.Dr Suman Damera is Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, PUC, Mizoram University.