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.”