A push by Vice President JD Vance to get US companies to hire and train American workers before turning to foreign labor has set off a sharp public fight over the H-1B visa program, one that unexpectedly pulled the phrase “DEI” into the debate.
Vance posted on X: “If an American corporation needs workers, it should hire and train Americans.” He was referring to H-1B visas, which let employers bring in foreign professionals for specialty jobs on a temporary basis. Ankit Gupta, a partner at the venture capital firm Y Combinator, responded: “In a win for the woke left[,] DEI is back.”
That comment drew fire from several Trump administration officials and allies. Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito wrote: “No, Ankit. It’s called putting your own citizens first.”
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson went further, writing: “Y Combinator is a supposed champion of ‘Little Tech’ but perhaps they’re nothing more than a front for the far left. I’m deeply uncomfortable with wealthy investors attacking American workers like this. I’m afraid it’s increasingly obvious to many people that individuals such as this guy do not have the best interests of America and her citizens in mind. The purpose of the American economy is to promote the general welfare of American workers, not provide jobs for the rest of the world.”
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley wrote: “It’s now DEI to train and hire Americans? Plenty of data to show that Americans are more than qualified, but corporate greed refuses to pay them respectable wages. You can have a meritocracy in AMERICA but it has to apply to AMERICANS. Otherwise we’re just a globalist entity and not even a country anymore. Ban the H-1B Visa now!”
What the H-1B Program Actually Does
The H-1B visa allows US employers to hire foreign professionals in specialty occupations, typically requiring at least a bachelor’s degree in fields like engineering, technology, or healthcare. India supplies the largest number of applicants, followed by China. According to a 2025 analysis by the National Foundation for American Policy, roughly 700,000 people on H-1B status currently live and work in the United States.
Critics say the program has undercut American wages and displaced US workers, particularly in tech. Supporters counter that it fills genuine skill gaps and drives economic growth, especially in California, the country’s tech hub.
California’s Outsized Role
California recorded the highest number of approved H-1B petitions of any state in fiscal year 2025, according to California Globe, accounting for roughly 30% or more of applications and petitions in recent periods, with average offered wages often above $160,000. The outlet reported that California has historically had more than 100,000 H-1B-related employees.
In Silicon Valley specifically, two-thirds of the region’s nearly 400,000 tech jobs are held by foreign-born workers, per a 2025 Joint Venture Silicon Valley report. India-born employees account for 23% of those jobs and China-born workers for 18%, compared with 34% for US-born workers. California Globe also noted that several major tech companies are now led by foreign-born executives, including Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen, IBM’s Arvind Krishna, Intel’s Lip-Bu Tan, YouTube’s Neal Mohan, and T-Mobile US’s Srinivas Gopalan.
Iowa and Illinois Senators Press Microsoft
Earlier this year, Sens. Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) sent a letter to Microsoft raising concerns about tech-sector unemployment alongside continued hiring of foreign nationals. The senators noted the tech industry’s unemployment rate runs “well above” the general jobless rate, and cited Federal Reserve findings that recent American STEM graduates now face higher unemployment than the population at large.
The senators wrote: “At the same time you have been laying off thousands of American employees, you have been filing H-1B visa petitions for thousands of foreign workers. In fiscal year 2025, you applied for and received approval to hire 5,189 H-1B employees, making Microsoft the third-largest employer of newly approved H-1B beneficiaries in the nation. With all of the homegrown American talent relegated to the sidelines, we find it hard to believe that Microsoft cannot find qualified American tech workers to fill these positions.”
A Costly Overhaul Ahead
The Trump administration is proposing to make it substantially more expensive for companies to bring in new H-1B workers. Employers would face a new $103,265 fee on top of existing costs — separate from an earlier $100,000 H-1B payment that remains tied up in federal court. The Department of Homeland Security estimates the new fee would apply to about 85,000 petitions annually and generate roughly $8.8 billion a year for the government.
The administration also wants to raise the minimum wages companies must pay H-1B workers, aiming to eliminate the financial incentive to hire from overseas rather than domestically. Critics of the plan argue it could make it harder for companies to recruit highly skilled foreign talent in cases where qualified Americans genuinely aren’t available.
Public comments on the proposal are due by Sept. 24, 2026.
