It might be an artificial shortage for sure. I also have seen terrible programmers and technical people in general gaming the technical interview and getting jo

It might be an artificial shortage for sure. I also have seen terrible programmers and technical people in general gaming the technical interview and getting jobs that are beyond their abilities. However I do think that is not a binary issue that can be blamed on a single cause. There's a range of things that could affect the outcome of a hiring decision and if H1-B is one of those reasons (let's say out of bad faith someone hires under H1-B because they want to pay them less), then is obvious that there are many other factors and biases that are affecting the outcome of how technical talent is hired in the US. Croyinsm, sexism, racism, ageism, broken hiring practices, corporate politics; just to mention a few.