The Trump administration has cut off Microsoft’s access to the main program employers use to sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency, an enforcement action Vice President JD Vance described Thursday as the first step in a crackdown on alleged visa fraud.
During the press conference Microsoft was singled out as the most extensive alleged abuser., Vance said the action did not just come out of the blue; it rather followed months of investigations.
“There has been no company in the United States, unfortunately, that has abused the system more than Microsoft,” Vice President JD Vance said. He alleged the company laid off over 6,000 American workers last year while benefiting from 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards.
“For every worker that Microsoft laid off, they replaced that worker with 1½ foreign indentured servants,” Vance added.
The decision suspends the company from the Permanent Labor Certification program. The action now blocks the pathway that allows H-1B visa holders to seek green cards and remain in the U.S. indefinitely.
As the declaration takes effect, the Labor Department will not accept any new permanent labor certification applications involving the company, nor will it process any that are pending.
“Our message to Microsoft is, you’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” the vice president said.
Adobe and six of the world’s largest IT outsourcing firms were also hit with the comprehensive suspension. They include companies like Cognizant and Infosys, in addition to Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini, which face the same ban.
Labor Secretary Keith Söderling clarified that the outsourcing firms are being suspended due to ongoing criminal investigations, while Microsoft on the other hand, is being suspended due to an active federal investigation and visa system fraud, according to the Trump administration.
The action follows months of tracking by an administration anti-fraud task force examining the H-1B and PERM systems.
“That’s hundreds of thousands of jobs that were taken from American workers. Our historic action is the first critical step to stop the fraud and the abuse, and ensure that these programs never come at the expense of the American worker,” Söderling said.
Adding that the scale of sponsorship by the targeted companies illustrates the impact on domestic hiring Since 2009, according to him, those companies alone requested almost 3 million foreign workers and received more than 230,000 H-1B approvals and more than 100,000 permanent labor certifications.
The H-1B program, Vance described as meant to allow companies to bring in workers from outside countries for positions that are completely impossible to fill with American workers but has become rife with fraud, with foreign outsourcing firms helping corporations apply for visas and find candidates.
“You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants,” Vance said.
“So we’re going to continue to support Microsoft and have a great relationship with Microsoft, but we’re also going to deny them the ability to apply for these permanent residencies until they show that they are going to get serious about putting American workers first,” he added.
In plain words, the suspension will last as long as necessary to bring those corporate to their senses and change their bad behaviours, according to Vance, and enforcement will extend beyond the Labor Department.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department is already examining companies that favor foreign workers over Americans. Whether cases result in criminal liability for companies, leaders or individuals will depend on the facts established in each investigation.
A second enforcement track involves the student visa system. Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said he is opening a historic investigation into alleged J-1 visa fraud involving nine universities — Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, plus the University of Pittsburgh, UC Davis, Caltech, Arizona State and MIT.
“Subpoenas have been served, investigations are underway, and nobody will be getting a free pass because their name is carved into an expensive building,” D’Esposito said.
