Nearly 200 investigations into possible abuse of the H-1B visa program have been launched as part of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) efforts to “combat discrimination against American workers,” agency officials reveal to Breitbart News.
At the helm of the massive H-1B fraud initiative is Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who told Breitbart News she is personally signing off on investigations — the first time a secretary has done so in U.S. history.
For years, Breitbart News has chronicled the widespread abuse and fraud within the H-1B visa program, with companies regularly firing American professionals after forcing them to train their foreign H-1B visa replacements, the vast majority of whom came from India, with little to no consequences from federal investigators.
India and China have done so dominated the H-1B visa program for decades.
In 2024, more than 7 in 10 federally approved H-1B visas went to Indian citizens, who are also overwhelmingly male. The Americans who have been replaced by foreign H-1B visa workers tend to be older, including many women, and enjoy seniority in their positions and good working conditions.
Chavez-DeRemer said DOL has at least 175 ongoing investigations after that announce the fraud and abuse enforcement initiative “Project Firewall” in September.
In announcing the initiative, Chavez-DeRemer highlighted the administration’s “commitment to end practices that leave Americans in the dust” shortly after President Donald Trump signed an agreement. proclamation authorize agencies to “reduce fraud and exclude foreign workers from the career entry-level jobs that talented American graduates need.”
Notably, Trump’s proclamation also imposed a one-time $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications.
In the six weeks since Project Firewall launched in late September, officials with the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) said they found the following:
- Foreign H-1B visa workers were hired at much lower wages than their American counterparts
- Instances where the work locations for hired foreign H-1B visa workers did not exist
- H-1B employers failed to notify federal officials when the visa was terminated
Despite some foreign H-1B visa hires having advanced degrees, WHD researchers said companies paid them at wage rates well below their qualifications, forcing Americans to also accept those lower rates to compete in the professional workforce.
In some investigations where the work location was false, the foreign H-1B visa workers also did not know what the work described in their Working Conditions Application (LCA) was, even though they had signed up for it.
Although DOL officials could not release names of companies and individuals involved in H-1B visa fraud at this time, more information is expected once the investigation is complete.
Years of analysis of government data has shown that American companies use the H-1B visa program as an outsourcing scheme that starts by laying off their American workers, importing their foreign replacements, and then, years later, moving the job to, usually, India.
Last year, leading H-1B visa researcher Ron Hira published a study for the Economic Policy Institute that reviewed payroll data from HCL Technologies, India’s third-largest outsourcing company, whose clients include Microsoft, Disney, Boeing, FedEx, Google, T-Mobile and Keurig Dr. Pepper.
The study’s results were shocking, but not surprising to longtime H-1B critics.
“H-1B workers hired in both India and the US appear to be vastly underpaid compared to their US citizen and permanent resident counterparts who were not hired on an H-1B visa,” the study found. “…according to HCL’s own calculations, the company systematically pays H-1B workers far fewer than its U.S. employees – as much as 47% – contrary to HCL’s representations in its visa applications where it promises to pay actual wages if they are higher than the prevailing wage.”
A similar study published in the Journal of Business Ethics Last year, it emerged that British multinational Deloitte paid foreign H-1B visa workers about 10 percent less than Americans doing the same work.
Olivia Rondeau is a political reporter for Breitbart News, based in Washington, DC. Find her X/Twitter And Instagram.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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