Vance announces investigation into alleged H-1B visa fraud

Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday that the Trump administration has opened an investigation into allegations of fraud within the H-1B visa program, which allows foreign workers to legally work in the United States on a temporary basis.

The visas allow U.S. companies to hire high-skilled foreign workers to serve in occupations such as healthcare, technology and education, while critics argued big businesses use the program to import cheap labor to replace Americans.

“Big corporations and fraudsters overseas are using this program to undercut the wages of American workers,” Vance said in a speech in Milwaukee. “If you are trying to take advantage of that visa program, you are not allowed into the United States.”

President Donald Trump tapped Vance as his "fraud czar" in early April. Since his appointment, he has overseen major fraud busts across the nation, including against allegedly fraudulent hospices in Los Angeles and other operations in Minneapolis and Maine. 

Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D'Esposito said the administration is also investigating alleged fraud in the Permanent Labor Certification visa process, and that investigators have already begun to issue dozens of subpoenas in relation to the probe.

"This is another example where fraud is fueling violent crime," D'Esposito told Fox Business. "Much of the visa and the human trafficking that we see when it comes to this foreign labor is tied to cartels, is tied to transnational gangs, and this is the work that we should be doing, not only to make America safe again, but to make America more affordable again."

The Permanent Labor Certification program is the Labor Department's program that allows employers to hire foreign workers to work permanently in the United States.

The investigations come after a federal judge in Boston last month struck down Trump's $100K fee on new H-1B visas, ruling it constituted an unlawful tax that was never authorized by Congress.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.