D'Esposito subpoenas nine universities over alleged J-1 visa abuse

Vance accused Microsoft of replacing U.S. workers with H-1B labor

Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said Thursday he had sent subpoenas to nine American universities that Vice President JD Vance’s antifraud task force accused of abusing the J-1 visa program for international students. Vance said the universities merited further investigation.

Vance used the same Thursday appearance to announce that his antifraud task force was suspending Microsoft, Adobe and several tech recruiting companies from the employment-based green card process — a separate visa channel H-1B holders use to stay in the U.S. permanently after their temporary visas expire.

The two programs are distinct. The J-1 exchange visitor program allows international students to work and study in the U.S. in exchange for legal status. Created by Congress in 1990, the H-1B program is the main pathway for highly skilled foreign workers seeking to enter the U.S. and has become central to the tech industry’s talent pipeline. Companies can employ someone on an H-1B for a maximum of six years and must then sponsor them for a green card to keep them. The employment-based green card process, unlike the H-1B itself, requires employers to conduct a “labor market test” demonstrating that no American workers are qualified for the position.

D’Esposito, who threatened legal action against the universities, framed his warning in personal terms. “I don’t care how prestigious a university thinks it is,” D’Esposito said. “Break the law and screw the American people, and I will personally cuff you in a university square.”

The Trump administration has alleged that companies game the green card labor market test by advertising jobs for green card holders more narrowly than other listings, allowing them to retain existing immigrant employees. The tech industry has countered that companies follow the law’s guidelines and that it is difficult to find American workers with the precise skill set of employees who have held a role for years. The Justice Department has previously reached settlements with major tech companies over similar claims, including agreements with both OpenAI and Meta.

Under the law, the Labor Department can also suspend companies from being eligible to use the employment-based green card process — but only after they have followed a process allowing the company to respond.

Vance singled out Microsoft in particular for what he characterized as the most extensive abuse of the visa system. “For every worker that Microsoft laid off, they replaced that worker with one-and-a-half foreign indentured servants,” Vance said, calling the arrangement a “scandalous system that we’ve allowed in this country for far too long.” Microsoft and Adobe did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Asked about the apparent tension with President Trump’s planned recognition of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation the same day, Vance said the administration did not want to harm the company. “So we’re going to continue to support Microsoft and have a great relationship with Microsoft,” Vance said, “but we’re also going to deny them the ability to apply for these permanent residencies until they show that they are going to get serious about putting American workers first.”

The H-1B program has come under increasing scrutiny from Republicans as the Trump administration tries to compel companies to hire Americans. Vance has previously said the H-1B program “is completely broken” and signaled he would support eliminating the temporary visa program entirely. His wife Usha Vance’s parents immigrated to the U.S. before the H-1B program was created, but arrived as students and stayed.

At a Turning Point event at the University of Mississippi in April, Vance drew on that family history as he described the obligations he saw for new citizens. “Look, I am married to the daughter of immigrants from India and, you know, I love my in-laws and they’re great people and they’ve been great contributors to the USA,” Vance said. “One of the obligations of such citizens is that they must think about the country and not the country or group they came from.” The system, Vance added, “works only when everyone thinks of themselves as Americans.”