U.S. Vice President JD Vance stated that the U.S. is stopping companies from using work visas to replace American workers earning $70,000 a year with foreign laborers earning $40,000. He referred to this practice as a fraud against the American public and the visa program.

He cited the example of accounting positions. An American accountant in Southern California earns $70,000, and if the company replaces them with a foreign worker earning $40,000, they can profit by claiming "Americans are not good enough." He stated that this is not about bringing in talented construction workers, but about replacing domestic jobs with what he calls foreign contract labor. Employers must prove that the foreign worker possesses specialized skills that Americans cannot fill. The government believes that this proof is false when it involves replacing with lower wages.

Enforcement is under a special anti-fraud task force. Vance said the executive branch has tools to modify the program to benefit Americans and encouraged Congress to take action, as the program is not functioning as designed. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling stated at the same press conference that the task force has uncovered $22 billion in visa fraud. Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito announced the formation of a visa fraud strike force, stating that investigations since the task force's establishment have led to 171 prosecutions, 203 convictions, 80 arrests, and over $1 billion confirmed for taxpayers.

On the same day, the company took action by suspending the permanent labor certification of eight employers, and universities received J-1 subpoenas. Vance stated that the wages for outsourced positions are about $20,000 less than similar positions held by Americans, and those recruited through outsourcing companies earn about $48,000 less. The firewall project has previously filed about 200 cases. Newly hired H-1B workers incur an additional one-time fee of $100,000, which a federal judge ruled as overreach, as it resembles a tax and must be approved by Congress.

The $40,000 versus $70,000 is not the average wage across all industries; it is an example he used to illustrate the replacement gap. The fraud characterization is based on the inconsistency between employer proof and actual replacements. The special task force is advancing investigations, prosecutions, and certification suspensions, not immediate visa quota changes.

The buyers are employers filling the same positions with lower wages, and the sellers are the higher-paid American employees being replaced. The driving force behind the events is fraud enforcement, not wage statistics revisions. The funding gap per position is about $30,000, which remains in the employer's costs. The narrative benefiting is framed as domestic job seekers who should reclaim their positions, while those under pressure are outsourcing and visa sponsorship companies that maintain profits through low-cost replacements. Existing visa-holding employees were not mentioned as needing to leave immediately.

Source: Public Information