> If harm was the goal, something like a STEM worker tax or cutting R&D tax incentives would be easier

These would affect all STEM workers equivalently. The H1-B program, whatever one thinks of its merits, hurts domestic STEM workers and helps immigrant STEM workers.

Perhaps the result is that the overall opportunities are greater because the larger talent pool results in more companies being formed. That depends a lot on how mature the industry is, and whether technological trends like generative AI will replace large swaths or STEM workers altogether.

This argument is kind of “I’m going to extract all your blood, but it’s not to kill you, but to increase my profits”.

You can’t really separate the two sides of the same coin.

I think you can exactly separate them. One is the goal, and the other is the effect.

Im not extracting all your blood for the fun of it, or to kill you. profit is the motivation.

Saying the motivation is to kill you is simply not correct. It is a byproduct.

You can't achieve the goal without the unpleasant side effect, then you can't really separate them.

Can we honestly say these hires are paid exactly the same their American counterparts would be willing to accept?

If you shovel shit all day to make money to eat, can you tell me which part is the motivation?

Im not sure why this is confusing. One part is the motivation, the other isnt.

The goal is to help industry in a specific manner. Lowering salary costs therefore suppressing wages is an integral part of the goal.