US Justice Department announces probe into H-1B visa misuse

Washington: The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has intensified its scrutiny of hiring practices under the H-1B visa program, calling on workers and employers to report instances where US citizens are unfairly overlooked in favour of foreign visa holders.

Harmeet Dhillon, the India-born Assistant Attorney General of Civil Rights at the DoJ, is leading the initiative. Dhillon was hand-picked by US President Donald Trump for the job shortly after he won the election in December last year.

On Thursday, Dhillon announced that the department has opened “several” investigations and taken action against “some” employers already. “Send us your leads,” she urged Americans to reach out on the DoJ hotline.

The H-1B program, capped at 85,000 new visas annually, allows US companies to hire skilled foreign workers in fields like technology and engineering. However, critics, including US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, have argued it enables outsourcing firms to depress wages and displace American talent.

In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Lutnick termed the current H1B visa system “a scam” and called upon US businesses to prioritise hiring of “American workers.”

Lutnick also announced that he is “involved in changing” it. DeSantis, too, raised similar concerns, calling the programme a “cottage industry.”

The Department of Homeland Security has also proposed changes to the existing system by eliminating the lottery setup with a “weighted selection process.”

Indian workers account for over 70 per cent of the H-1 visa approvals each year, primarily due to a huge backlog in approvals and a high number of skilled immigrants from the country.

On Wednesday, in a related development, the Trump administration also unveiled new plans to restrict visas for international students by imposing a four-year cap.

India is the largest source of international students in the United States, with over 330,000 arriving in 2024, followed by China.

IANS