Senator Ruben Gallego has written a letter to the Departments of Labor, Homeland Security, and Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice to boost oversight over large corporations’ use of H-1B visas to ensure foreign workers are not replacing or undercutting American workers, especially given the high Gen Z unemployment rate.
What Gallego Wrote
“High-skilled immigration programs, when designed, implemented, and enforced appropriately, spur economic growth that creates good-paying jobs for American workers. At the same time, we must ensure such programs are not used to undercut or replace U.S. employees, especially as the American dream continues to grow further out of reach for young people,” Senator Gallego wrote in a letter to Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow, and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Over the last several years, large technology corporations have laid off hundreds of thousands of American workers while simultaneously hiring foreign H-1B tech workers. In fiscal year 2025, these same companies were approved to hire over 30,000 foreign H-1B workers. At major public technology companies, employees between the ages of 21 and 25 made up 15 percent of the workforce in January 2023. By July 2025, that number had dropped to 6.7 percent. These statistics suggest that there are young American workers eager to be trained for and to fill these roles, wrote Gallego.
Gallego’s Pointed Questions
Senator Gallego requested answers to the following questions:
To what extent do you plan to increase the number of investigations into H-1B fraud and abuse?
How will you prioritize which companies to investigate?
Will you pay special attention to the companies that have laid off American workers while filing petitions for H-1B workers?
How will you ensure companies make good faith efforts to fulfill all H-1B requirements, including those requiring prioritization of U.S. workers over H-1B employees?
The press release announcing Project Firewall states the Secretary will personally certify the initiation of investigations. How will you ensure this personal certification requirement does not needlessly add red tape, enable corruption or pay-to-play, or hamper the visa program’s overall objectives?
In executing this multi-agency oversight effort, how will you ensure your other important missions are not negatively impacted?
