You’re writing off too many people. Sure, it’s hard to find good American workers of any kind today. But you will find some.
The principle is still good: jobs to Americans first, foreigners afterward.
Do this if you have concerns: reserve jobs for American applicants first. You show up, do a good job, fantastic. You don’t, then you lose your job and it goes to someone with a J-1.
The foreigners can still be there to pick up the slack.
I never said there wouldn’t be *any*. The J-1 program, as described in the article, brings in about 100,000 temp employees every year. Of those, some small percentage probably don’t work out, probably around 3000. My WAG is that if it were converted to a job bank for inner-city youth, with 100,000 available positions, you’d see about 1000-2000 where the applicant never shows at all, and probably about ~15,000 more where the applicant bails on the job after a couple of weeks. Of the ones that stay filled, the level of productivity is likely to be lower overall.
Now, if the “job bank” were open to any American, not just inner-city youth, then yes, the success rate and productivity level would probably be higher, but that’s not Trump’s proposal.