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Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday that the Department of Labor has launched an investigation into suspected systemic abuses within the H-1B visa program.
The H-1B program enables domestic employers to temporarily hire foreign nationals in highly specialized fields that generally necessitate at least a bachelor’s degree. Eligible positions include software engineers, physicians, scientists and other high-skill occupations.
“Here’s a simple principle, ladies and gentlemen: American jobs ought to go to American workers and not foreign fraudsters, and the Department of Labor is fighting back against it,” Vance said during a visit to Milwaukee.
According to Vance, the Labor Department has already executed dozens of subpoenas as part of the sweeping federal inquiry.
“Big corporations and fraudsters overseas are using this program to undercut the wages of American workers,” Vance said. “If you are trying to take advantage of that visa program, you are not allowed into the United States.”
The vice president argued that while the Trump administration has moved to save billions of dollars previously lost to illicit exploitation, congressional Democrats have willfully ignored the problem.
“Not a single congressional Democrat stood up and said we are going to fight back against fraud, and that’s the problem with modern congressional Democrats,” Vance said.
Vance referenced his own family history, stating that his grandparents were working-class Democrats who would no longer recognize the contemporary platform of the political party.
“They would not 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,” Vance said.
He added: “They would not recognize a party that raises your taxes so that we can give more money to the fraudsters, and they would not recognize a party that rewards the fraudsters rather than sending them to prison.”