The Labor Department is stepping up its oversight of the H-1B visa program as the Trump administration pushes its America-First agenda. For the first time, investigators won’t wait for formal complaints. According to Bloomberg, they can launch reviews whenever there’s reason to believe rules are being broken.
At the same time, Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and the department have been posting actively online, arguing that globalism has hurt American workers and pledging to put Americans first.
‘Globalism has destroyed lives’
In a new post on X, Chavez-DeRemer wrote that President Trump has built “the greatest cabinet in history” and said she is “honoured” to serve under “the greatest President of my lifetime.”
On Wednesday, the Department of Labor (DoL) posted a long message blaming globalisation for hurting American workers. “Globalism has destroyed the lives of so many American Workers. The steelworkers were laid off after their factories were offshored. The tech workers were fired because their companies illegally prioritised foreign labor.”
The department said fixing this won’t be quick, but insisted that with Trump “at the helm,” the team is working around the clock to put American first. “The college graduates robbed of their opportunity to gain employment and secure the American Dream. We’re making progress and working around the clock.” Soon after, the department posted another message, “American jobs are for American workers.”
.@POTUS has assembled the greatest cabinet in history—and we’re continuing to deliver wins for the American Worker.
— Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer (@SecretaryLCD) December 4, 2025
Honored to serve under the leadership of the greatest President of my lifetime. pic.twitter.com/DJWxZ5e3ok
DOL says it’s cracking down on H-1B visa abuse
The US Department of Labor has started taking a much tougher look at the H-1B visa program, Bloomberg reported. So far, the department has opened around 200 investigations, and for the first time, the labor secretary is using a rule that lets the agency launch proactive checks, meaning they don’t have to wait for someone to file a complaint. The department said Secretary Chavez-DeRemer has personally certified new H-1B investigations, describing it as a major step to protect US workers.
“The investigations that will come from secretarial certified compliance reviews will be broader in scope than complaint-driven investigations,” Edward Raleigh, a partner at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP, told Bloomberg.
The H-1B visa program is largely used by companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta, and by industries such as healthcare, finance, education and manufacturing. The visas allow companies to bring in foreign workers for specialised roles.
In most past cases, the Labor Department only investigated a company if a worker filed a complaint. Now, under Project Firewall, investigators can start looking into a company if they have “reasonable cause” to believe the employer might be breaking the rules.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services fraud unit has also increased its workplace inspections over the past year. Meanwhile, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is looking into cases where companies may have discriminated against American workers while hiring foreign talent.
