Exclusive: Rep. Van Duyne reinforces BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales in war on H-1B fraudsters

BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales' crusade against H-1B visa abuse in Texas not only has alleged fraudsters panicking and closing up shop but has prompted meaningful crackdowns by state and federal officials.

Those officials poised to nab the kinds of fraudsters targeted by Gonzales' investigations might soon be able to hit them with greater penalties.

'Hopefully we'll make them think twice about doing this.'

On Thursday, just days after lauding Gonzales for "bringing this to the surface," Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) introduced legislation that would increase penalties for certain violations of the H-1B visa program, Blaze News has exclusively learned.

The congresswoman told Blaze News that American workers have been "losing opportunities and having wages drastically cut because some bad actors, employers, were actually wanting to break the law to get cheaper labor, and one of the ways that they were doing that is to abuse the H-1B visa program."

"Hopefully, we'll make them think twice about doing this," added Van Duyne.

Currently, the secretary of labor is permitted to impose a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per violation should an employer engage in willful violations of the H-1B program's conditions, willful material misrepresentations in an H-1B attestation, and/or retaliation against employees who disclose suspected H-1B violations.

The penalty is $35,000 per violation if it involves the termination of an American worker employed within 90 days before or after the filing of a visa petition.

Van Duyne said on "Sara Gonzales Unfiltered" last week that the current fines amount to little more than a "slap on the wrist" — that a $5,000 fine is hardly a deterrent for H-1B employers when they're saving tens of thousands of dollars by importing a foreign worker instead of hiring an American.

RELATED: BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales' investigation has Indian H-1B sponsor panicking

Van Duyne's H-1B Visa Fraud Crackdown Act would raise the maximum per-violation fines from $5,000 to $100,000 and from $35,000 to $250,000, respectively.

The congresswoman told Blaze News that "the $100,000 penalty is already federal law for falsifying information to the government," so "we were just being consistent."

"You guys have to pass that!" Gonzales told the congresswoman.

"Hit them in the pocket book. Make it hurt because they have no problem doing that to the American worker that they're undercutting and displacing."

Additionally, the new bill would bar H-1B employers who willfully commit violations from sponsoring new visas for at least five years, or 10 years in the event that an American worker was displaced. Presently, those penalties are two years and three years, respectively.

Gonzales said in a statement to Blaze News about Van Duyne's bill, "Any meaningful steps to crack down on the fraud and over abuse of the H-1B visa system is very welcome. It’s a great first step, and Congress needs to act to make sure that we can end, or at the very least, reform this corrupt system once and for all."

"This is why I’ve been working so hard to expose the fraud in the H-1B visa system, to make sure that appropriate action is taken."

While she noted that wage suppression and fraud shouldn't be partisan issues, Van Duyne told Blaze News that Democrats will likely oppose the bill in part because they are keen on "flooding their areas with people who are here legally or illegally to make sure that they're not losing their power and losing their congressional district seats because of populations."

In April, Van Duyne and fellow Texas Republican Reps. Pat Fallon, Ronny Jackson, and Brandon Gill sent a letter to members of the Trump administration, urging them to "provide recommendations to Congress, if necessary, on statutory or regulatory changes to close loopholes and restore integrity to the H-1B program."

The congresswoman, who has been working with U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services and the Department of Labor on this issue, told Blaze News that "one of the things that we requested in the letter was to give us ideas of legislatively what we could do," and this bill "was one of of the things that the administration suggested that we enact."

Van Duyne, appreciative of the Trump administration and the work of "independent journalists like Sara Gonzales," told Blaze News that there are additional related bills in the works.

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