Trump Admin Promises To Continue Crackdown On H-1B Visa Abuses

The White House maintained its commitment to cracking down on abuses of the American immigration system after President Donald Trump was questioned this week about the H-1B visa program, telling The Daily Wire that the Trump administration was committed to protecting American workers.  

Trump was questioned on Tuesday by Fox News host Laura Ingraham about concerns over the H-1B visas, a program that allows American companies to hire foreign nationals under certain conditions. When Ingraham said there were concerns about H-1B visas being used to take away American jobs, Trump said that the program was needed to bring certain talent in. 

In a statement to The Daily Wire, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said that the administration was committed to reforming the immigration system.  

“In record time, President Trump has done more than any president in modern history to tighten our immigration laws and put American workers first,” Rogers said. “The $100,000 payment required to supplement new H-1B visa applications is a significant first step to stop abuses of the system and ensure American workers are no longer replaced by lower-paid foreign labor.”

Trump signed a proclamation in September mandating companies pay $100,000 to obtain an H-1B visa. During his interview on Tuesday, Trump said the United States had “to bring in talent” to do certain jobs Americans were not trained to do. 

Rogers also pointed to Project Firewall, an initiative of the Labor Department to investigate companies that abuse the H-1B visa system. 

“The Trump administration is protecting American workers by restoring accountability in the H-1B process, ensuring that it is used to bring in only the highest-skilled foreign workers in specialty occupations and not low wage workers that will displace Americans,” she said. 

A White House official told The Daily Wire that 175 investigations had already been opened under the project, representing $15 million in back wages to workers. Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is personally certifying the investigations, the official said. 

Ingraham also pressed Trump on previous statements about allowing around 600,000 Chinese students to study in America. As of the 2023-2024 school year, roughly 277,000 Chinese students are attending American universities. 

“We do have a lot of people coming in from China. We always have, China and other countries. We also have a massive system of colleges and universities. And if we were to cut that in half, which perhaps makes some people happy, you would have half the colleges in the United States go out of business.”

Ingraham suggested that it wasn’t in line with Trump’s MAGA agenda to admit so many foreign students, pointing to instances of intellectual property theft and espionage. Trump said that admitting foreign students brought significant revenue into the United States. 

“I actually think it’s good to have outside countries. Look, I want to be able to get along with the world,” he said.

In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would be “aggressively” looking to revoke the visa of Chinese students with ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Last week, it was revealed that the State Department has been revoking visas at double the rate of the Biden administration.