Vice President J.D. Vance on Wednesday announced a new investigation into H-1B visa fraud, a program that allows highly skilled foreigners to work in the U.S.
He said the victims of this fraud are American workers.
“Big corporations and fraudsters overseas are using this program to undercut the wages of American workers,” Mr. Vance said in a speech in Milwaukee. “If you are trying to take advantage of that visa program, you are not allowed into the United States.”
The vice president said the Labor Department has already issued dozens of subpoenas in probes of foreign fraudsters allegedly taking advantage of the visa program.
H-1B visas are non-immigrant work visas that allow U.S. companies to hire high-skilled foreign workers to serve in specialty occupations such as healthcare, computer technology and education. The workers are allowed into the U.S. for an initial period of three years, but that can be extended to six years.
Roughly 70% of all new H1-B visa applications are in the tech industry, according to government data. California, New York and Illinois see the most H-1B visa applications.
The Trump administration has long argued that H-1B visas are a conduit for a wide range of fraud, including workers not being paid the wage certified on the Labor Condition Application or performing jobs other than the one specified on the H-1B petition. The alleged abuse tends to ramp up after the visa expires because the workers become desperate to stay in the U.S.
That results in workers performing the same or similar duties at a lower wage, which is to the detriment of the U.S. workers, Mr. Vance said.
“American jobs ought to go to American workers and not foreign fraudsters, and the Department of Labor is fighting back against it,” Mr. Vance said.
A federal judge last month struck down President Trump’s plan to impose a $100,000 fee for employers seeking H-1B visas, ruling that the administration exceeded its authority by imposing what is essentially a tax and that only Congress can approve new taxes.
Mr. Vance cast the administration’s fraud crackdown as the difference between Democrats and Republicans in the battleground state of Wisconsin, which is critical to the GOP’s hopes to keep control of Congress.
He said his grandparents, who were “blue-collar Democrats,” would be shocked by today’s Democratic Party.
“They wouldn’t recognize a party that tries to send your money to illegal aliens instead of our hardworking seniors who earned those benefits and ought to have access to them,” he said.
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