The United States Department of Labor unveiled the Project Firewall plan on Tuesday to reprimand employers accused of abusing the H1-B worker visa and incentivize them to prioritize qualified American workers.
The department stated that its plan will root out fraud, encourage employers to offer job opportunities, and safeguard the rights and wages of “highly skilled American workers.”
The department announced that it would open investigations, impose fines, collect back wages that they owe to workers, assess civil money penalties, and “temporarily restrict employers from engaging with the foreign labor visa program in the future.”
The department added that it will additionally share information and coordinate with relevant government agencies to identify and combat alleged fraud and discrimination against American workers.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has called the H1-B program a “total scam,” accusing employers of laying off American workers while at the same time hiring new employees on the visas.
The department’s plan comes after President Donald Trump began to reform the H-1B visa program in September, after he signed an executive order that instructed the Department of Homeland Security to change the registration fee for the visa to $100,000.
“This program has been abused for too long,” Trump said, adding that the program has “displaced” American workers and suppressed wages.
“It’s time to fix it for our people,” the president added.
The majority of people who are employed under the visa come from India, at 73%, according to Pew Research Center. The second-highest country with H1-B hires is China at 12%. Business leaders and visa holders outside of the country panicked after the news was announced in September, which led to the White House clarifying that the new restrictions would only apply to future applicants, not those already working in the U.S. and temporarily out of the country.
The Labor Department’s plan will be spearheaded by the department’s Office of Immigration Policy, Employment and Training Administration, and Wage and Hour Division, which have been directed by the department’s Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer to collaborate with federal partners to ensure that existing laws are properly upheld.
Those federal patterns include the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
“By sharing data, clarifying employer obligations, and aligning enforcement tools, we are better positioned to prevent discriminatory hiring practices and protect labor market integrity,” Deputy Secretary Keith Sonderling stated.
DESANTIS TELLS FLORIDA UNIVERSITY LEADERS TO STOP ISSUING H-1B VISAS FOR JOBS THAT AMERICANS CAN DO
Employers who currently offer H-1B visas can access the department’s Wage and Hour Division’s H-1B compliance assistance resources to better understand how to comply with existing laws, the department stated in a press release.
“With the scale of unlawful anti-American discrimination we’re seeing, robust investigation and enforcement – within the EEOC and with our federal partners – is essential to protecting America’s workforce,” Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Andrea Lucas.