The often-controversial H-1B visa program may soon undergo changes under President Trump’s Department of Homeland Security.
Originally designed to help American companies hire qualified workers, including those from abroad, the H-1B program has frequently been exploited to replace U.S. workers with lower-cost foreign labor, WND reports.
For instance, despite ongoing layoffs at U.S.-based Microsoft—including a recent wave in its Xbox division—the company has already slashed over 10,000 jobs across various departments this year, with 6,000 cuts in May alone and hundreds more in June.
Between May and June, Microsoft laid off 2,300 employees in Washington state, including 817 software engineers, according to official WARN Act filings.
Yet during that same timeframe, the company submitted 6,327 H-1B visa applications for software engineering positions with identical job titles and locations to those impacted by the layoffs, said a report.
As reported by The National Pulse, the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday filed a notice with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs signaling a potential change to H-1B visa requirements.
The proposed update includes implementing a “weighted selection process” for applicants under the program’s annual cap. However, the filing offers no specifics on how the new system would operate. The H-1B visa program currently has a statutory cap of 85,000 visas per year.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, some of Donald Trump’s high-profile supporters clashed over the merits of the H-1B visa program, with both Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy voicing support for it. However, public opinion polls have consistently shown that a majority of Americans disapprove of the program.
Trump had previously argued that H-1B visas are “unfair” to American workers, saying in 2016, “I know the H-1B very well. And it’s something that I frankly use, and I shouldn’t be allowed to use it. We shouldn’t have it.”
As The National Pulse notes, critics of the H-1B program argue that the current lottery system overwhelmingly favors large corporations like Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft, while putting American workers at a disadvantage by forcing them to compete with lower-cost foreign labor.
“A weighted system could potentially replace the random lottery system as a means to prioritize better-qualified visa applicants,” WND.com reported.
Earlier this month, one of Trump’s Cabinet members addressed reports that the president was considering “amnesty” for a class of illegal immigrants.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said illegals working on U.S. farms will not be granted amnesty and could face mass deportation as the Trump administration pushes for “a 100% American workforce.”
Rollins, though, did add that the administration needs to be “strategic in how we are implementing the mass deportation so as not to compromise our food supply.”
Speaking in Iowa, Trump said he’s open to allowing migrant laborers to remain in the U.S., provided the farmers who employ them are willing to vouch for them. He added that he’s working with the Department of Homeland Security to support farmers who rely on migrant workers for seasonal labor.
Speaking at a press conference outside her department’s headquarters, Rollins was asked about Trump’s suggestion of a possible “temporary pass” for undocumented migrant farm workers.
Rollins responded by noting that Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and her team are actively reviewing the H-2A visa program as it pertains to agricultural labor. However, she firmly stated, “I can’t underscore this enough: There will be no amnesty.”
Earlier, Rollins was asked if she was concerned about how mass deportations might impact the agriculture industry. “So, no amnesty under any circumstances,” Rollins said.
“Mass deportations continue, but in a strategic and intentional way as we move our workforce toward more automation and toward a 100% American workforce,” she noted.
“The first thing I’ll say is the president has been unequivocal that there will be no amnesty, and I think that’s very, very important,” she added. “I and the rest of our Cabinet certainly support that, effectuate that, and make sure that happens every single day.