Citing alleged abuse of the foreign worker visa system at the expense of American workers, the Trump administration suspended multiple companies, including Microsoft, Adobe, and Cognizant, from using employer-sponsored visa programs.
The announcement was made by Vice President Vance, Labor Secretary Sonderling, and Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Why it matters: the move is a significant escalation of the administration’s war on foreign workers and the companies that use them. Expect more groups of companies to be targeted for investigation and potential bans moving forward.
What is being alleged: the Administration is claiming that the named employers are failing to determine whether qualified American workers exist for the jobs before applying for H-1B visas. “The fraud is that [these companies are] making representations when applying for this program that are fundamentally illegitimate and therefore ultimately illegal,” the Vice President said.
“Indefinite” bans: the actions are being taken under the White House Anti-Fraud Task Force. Vice President Vance emphasized that the suspensions would be indefinite until such time that the administration believed its concerns were addressed, without clarifying what actions companies were expected to take.
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As of yet, there has been no notable announcement of any specific criminal or civil enforcement actions taken against the named companies (besides the bans) for any alleged unlawful behavior, nor did the Vice President specifically articulate what specific behaviors were illegal under current law.
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Vance cited recent layoffs by the named companies of American workers juxtaposed with filings for new visas for more foreign workers during the same period as evidence of abuse, although the Vice President did not specify whether the roles subject to layoffs correlated to the roles earmarked for workers on employer-sponsored visas.
The escalating campaign against foreign workers: the administration has drastically stepped up its all-of-government approach to crack down on the use of employer-sponsored visas over the last few months. The EEOC, the DOL, and the DOJ have each launched initiatives targeting alleged “anti-American” bias in hiring and perceived overreliance on H-1B visas.
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Last month, for instance, the EEOC opened an investigation into Hyundai over alleged anti-American bias in its hiring practices and settled with Novadoz Pharmaceuticals over allegations that it refused American employees telework options offered to Indian employees.
CHRO takeaways:
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The political angle: expect the administration to continue to use all available resources to publicly target large companies over perceived overreliance on foreign talent, particularly as it tries to score political points in the leadup to the midterm elections.
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Map hiring/RIF overlap: with the administration closely scrutinizing layoffs against visa filings, consider auditing workforce changes to determine where any such overlap between the two groups may exist and develop legal messaging strategies.
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Communicate with your employees: American and foreign-born workers alike will want to know where they and their companies stand amidst this enforcement push; develop internal messaging accordingly.
