H-1B crackdown widens beyond tech: US Labor Dept warns ‘fraudsters to count days’

Under the leadership of US President Donald Trump, the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Inspector General (OIG) intensified its ongoing immigration crackdown in July by announcing a major investigation into H-1B visa fraud and Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) systems. In an effort to double down on the Republican leader’s ‘America First’ agenda, OIG partnered with the president and Vice President JD Vance’s White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.

The Trump administration has long argued that these decisions centre on safeguarding US workers and ensuring that US employers don’t “abuse” the work visa program to replace them with “cheap foreign labour.” Earlier this week, Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito, a Republican ex-congressman, reiterated his commitment to the crackdown efforts. At the same time, he argued that “H-1B visa abuse” is “worse than many of the American people actually think.”

DOL expands scope of ‘visa fraud’ probe

Earlier this month, the top DOL official announced that “H-1B processing” and PERM filings have been suspended for tech companies Cognizant and Cloudera. The H-1B work visa is particularly dominated by STEM fields. Recent years’ official data have shown Indian nationals securing over 70% of H-1B approvals each year.

US Labor Dept warns ‘H-1B fraudsters’ again

Sharing a video of the inspector general’s recent TV outing, the official DOL OIG account warned on X, “H-1B fraudsters…count your days.”

Earlier that day, Anthony D’Esposito took to his own official X profile and emphasised, “The H-1B fraud machine is being exposed. One layer, one lead and one fraudster at a time.”

Meanwhile, during his appearance on ‘Real America’s Voice,’ the Trump admin official said investigators are focused on uncovering alleged “visa mills” that undercut American workers, and are doing so by “peeling the onion back one piece at a time.”

Last month, Vice President JD Vance expressed support for the newly proposed higher H-1B fee of $103,265, while a previous effort to charge $100,000 for these work visas was struck down by US courts.

DOL’s visa fraud investigations build on ongoing crackdown

According to an official press release published by the Office of Inspector General (DOL) in July, US authorities uncovered widespread schemes which involved employers and labour brokers submitting fraudulent applications, exploiting foreign workers “through coercive wage-kickback arrangements,” and undercutting US workers by flooding the US job market with “below-wage labor.”

Consequently, the Labor Department launched a nationwide awareness initiative and encouraged reports of instances that may have involved misuse of the H-1B and PERM programs.

The department especially urged US workers who believed they had been displaced or impacted by potential immigration fraud or similarly related industry practices to speak up. Foreign workers, who may have experienced exploitation, coercion, benching or fraudulent hiring practices, and workers who may have been forced to provide labor or services through force, fraud, or coercion, to report concerns confidentially or directly to the OIG hotline.

A while back, D’Esposito announced that his office had issued “dozens” of subpoenas to US employers suspected of H-1B visa fraud. He stressed that the Trump admin seeks to imprison such “fraudsters.”

“This isn’t just paperwork fraud—it’s the exploitation of vulnerable workers, forced labor, the displacement of American workers, and abusive human trafficking,” D’Esposito said in a July statement.

The ongoing widespread investigation serve as an extension of the Labor Department’s Project Firewall initiative, which was launched in September 2025 to ensure that employers don’t displace American workers with cheaper foreign labor.

According to the DOL’s ‘American Workers First: 2025 Department of Labor Accomplishments’ report, the Trump administration launched nearly 200 investigations into companies suspected of misusing the H-1B visa program.

Since returning to office in January 2025, Donald Trump has specifically targeted immigration, even its legal pathways. Sweeping policy overhauls have seen his second-term administration expand screening and vetting processes for visa applicants. These steps have, in turn, triggered massive delays in, and subsequently cancellations of, visa interviews.