I think the simplest explanation is that the number of jobs has been exploding but the number of people who really know their stuffs isn't keeping up. It takes time for any population to adjust to a new situation. Surely it's hard to master EE etc. as well but how many companies really need EE engineers anyways. I've been keeping explaining to others that in EE etc. many probably get a PhD before they apply for a job in a company like Intel or maybe at least a second-rate OEM company which truly needs somebody to design/test their hardware, while literally every company needs somebody who can program. The talk of "not understanding" this thing just sounds like exaggerated posturing. I don't think there's anything very hard to grasp about it. The situation might well change in a few years with the maturation of AI-based program generation technologies and the saturation of population. We'll just have to see.

Also most foreign programmers actually already have to pay a fortune (many via their rich parents) to study in the US in the first place before they get the OPT/visa, so they already came from rich families and it's a kind of like the situation with lawyers/consultants/financiers where such an elitist circle gets elitist pay as well.