The ‘mandatory interviews for Americans’ are just transparent scams.
It was supposed to be for hiring wernher von braun type world leading experts in their field.
It was never supposed to be for hiring a bunch of code plumbers, which is what 99.9% of this industry consists of.
You’re probably thinking of the O-1 Visa, though that was also created in the ‘90’s.
[https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary...]