The H-1B visa program is facing renewed political scrutiny after Rep. Riley Moore sharply criticized the employment-based visa system. A senior official at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General alleged that fraud involving work visas is fueling criminal enterprises and costing Americans jobs.
The comments come as anti-immigration activists have increasingly linked recent technology-sector layoffs, including Microsoft’s Xbox restructuring, to the hiring of H-1B workers. Several social media influencers have also targeted Indian executives and Indian H-1B professionals, accusing companies of replacing American workers with lower-paid foreign labor.
Speaking in an interview, Moore described the H-1B program as “an absolute disaster” for American workers across multiple industries.”The H-1B visa program is a disaster. It’s an absolute disaster for white-collar, blue-collar, any American worker out here,” Moore said.
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The West Virginia Republican argued that the program has expanded far beyond its original purpose of addressing specialized labor shortages.”There are hundreds of thousands of these H-1B visas, and many times these are the types of jobs that you’re sending your kids to college for, your kids to trade school for,” he said.
Moore went further, saying he believes legal employment-based immigration poses a greater threat to American workers than illegal immigration in certain sectors.”I think in many aspects it is actually worse than the illegal immigration problem that we have as it relates to work in this country,” he said.
Microsoft layoffs cited
Moore pointed to Microsoft’s recent Xbox restructuring as an example of what he described as corporate misuse of employment visas.”You go look at Microsoft right now. Xbox just laid off 3,200 U.S. workers and then turned around and applied for thousands of H-1B visas to import people from India to do those jobs for pennies on the dollar,” he said.
Microsoft has not said the layoffs were connected to its H-1B hiring. Like many large technology companies, Microsoft continues to file H-1B petitions each year for specialized engineering and software positions while also restructuring parts of its workforce.
Moore also criticized the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, particularly STEM OPT, which allows many international graduates to work in the United States after completing their degrees.”We’re bringing in foreign workers and training them… and then replacing our own kids… most of them workers from India. It doesn’t make sense to me,” he said.
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Inspector General alleges criminal misuse
Separately, Anthony D’Esposito, the ninth Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Labor, said his office is investigating alleged fraud involving H-1B and PERM employment-based visa programs.
In an interview with BlazeTV, D’Esposito alleged that some foreign workers are being exploited by criminal organizations.”There is no question… we have people who are being brought into the United States of America to work under these visas so that they can kick back money and parts of their wages to criminal enterprises,” he said.
He further claimed that visa fraud is contributing to organized crime.”Not only are they taking American jobs away, not only are they putting American people out of work, but they’re actually taking the wages of the American dollar and sending it back to criminal enterprises.”
D’Esposito said his office has begun issuing subpoenas as part of what he described as an expansive investigation.”We started issuing subpoenas because my office has the ability to issue subpoenas, and we are going to conduct a thorough expansive investigation with the help of the White House Task Force into these H-1B visas and PERM,” he said.
H-1B program under renewed debate
The H-1B visa program allows U.S. employers to hire foreign professionals in specialty occupations requiring specialized knowledge, with technology companies accounting for many of the annual petitions. Indian nationals consistently receive the overwhelming majority of approved H-1B visas.
Supporters of the program argue it helps companies fill shortages in highly skilled occupations and strengthens American innovation. Critics contend that some employers use the program to reduce labor costs or replace qualified U.S. workers.
The latest comments from Moore and D’Esposito add to growing Republican scrutiny of employment-based immigration as the Trump administration continues to tighten oversight of legal immigration programs. Meanwhile, immigration advocates caution that allegations of fraud should be investigated on a case-by-case basis and should not be used to broadly characterize H-1B workers, the vast majority of whom comply with U.S. immigration and labor laws.
The Department of Labor has not released findings from the reported investigation, and no evidence has yet been presented publicly to substantiate the broader claims that H-1B wages are systematically funding criminal enterprises.