Immigrant workers in America are far more likely to get visas for farm jobs than tech or other high-skilled positions amid President Donald Trump’s H-1B visa crackdown, Axios reported on Wednesday.
Trump signed a proclamation in September imposing a $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applicants. Only 85 applicants had paid the fee as of Feb. 15, according to a lawsuit cited by Axios.
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“American workers must come first,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) spokesman Matthew J. Tragesser told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The $100,000 H-1B fee sends a clear message: we must prioritize hiring American talent before hiring foreign labor.”
Over 65,000 individuals approved for H-1B visas in fiscal year 2024 would have been affected by the fee, according to Axios. The information technology (IT) sector makes up roughly 70% of H-1B petitions filed annually, according to Nation Connections.
The H-1B program, established by Congress in 1990, allows American employers to hire temporary, foreign workers in specialty jobs, according to the Government Accountability Office. Although classified as a nonimmigrant visa, H-1B holders can eventually become eligible to apply for permanent residency, enabling them to remain in the U.S. indefinitely.
The USCIS said on Tuesday that it had received enough electronic registrations to reach the fiscal year 2027 H-1B visa cap.
Moreover, the Department of Labor (DOL) is developing a revised wage formula that is anticipated to raise the cost of employing H-1B workers, according to Axios.
“The previous methodology implicitly allowed employers to hire experienced foreign workers and pay them as an entry-level U.S. worker,” a DOL spokesperson told Axios. “It created perverse incentives to avoid hiring entry-level U.S. workers.”
A DOL spokeswoman told the DCNF that its proposed rule is designed to tackle wage disparities in the H-1B program to more closely match foreign workers’ pay with that of comparable American workers. She said it is intended to prevent employers from undercutting wages and to ensure compliance with laws governing foreign labor programs.
Trump’s coalition appeared split in the weeks leading up to his second presidential inauguration as businessmen Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy advocated for H-1Bs in December 2024. Trump supporters, including former White House adviser Steve Bannon, former Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and activist Laura Loomer, all vocally opposed the program at the time, CNN reported.
Trump initially seemed to side with the pro-H-1B faction, declaring he was “a believer” in the “great” visa program.
However, the September proclamation seemed to be a major shift for Trump into the pro-American worker camp. Yet the president said in November that H-1B workers were necessary because Americans don’t know how to make microchips.
“The president does not support American workers being replaced,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told a group of reporters in November. “The president has a very nuanced, common-sense opinion on this issue … but ultimately [he] wants to see American workers in those jobs… There’s been a lot of misunderstanding of the president’s position.”
People born in India accounted for 72% of all H-1B recipients between October 2022 and September 2023, according to a March 2024 report from the Department of Homeland Security.
Over 428,000 tech employees lost their jobs in 2022 and 2023, according to the Institute for Sound Public Policy (ISPP). A total of 384 tech companies laid off 124,000 employees in 2024.
Immigration experts estimated in January that there were up to 730,000 H-1B holders residing in the U.S.
American tech workers have long argued that the H-1B system has put them at a disadvantage by forcing them to compete with cheap, foreign labor.
U.S. Tech Workers founder Kevin Lynn told the DCNF he took issue with exemptions to the $100,000 H-1B fee and the fact that it is a one-time cost rather than an annual charge.
“The biggest positive is the $100,000 fee has had the effect of moving the Overton Window substantially to our side. Most worrisome about the $100,000 fee is if it is not formalized in a rule change, it can be wiped away by the next administration,” Lynn said. “Although DOL has submitted a proposed rule change that could raise the prevailing wage of H-1Bs, it has not been formalized as of this time. And if formalized in its present form, it is still set too low.”
Lynn also called for an immediate moratorium on employment visas.
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