Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling announced Thursday that the Trump administration is launching a sweeping visa crackdown against several major technology firms for fraud and abuse.
“This administration knows that American workers are the best and the brightest in the world,” Sonderling said during a news conference. “These jobs that were stolen from them should have gone, and will now go, to Americans first — not foreigners, and especially not foreign fraudsters.”
He thanked President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance for their help in “cutting off the head of the snake,” and said findings from various “ongoing criminal investigations” triggered the decision.
“I am hereby suspending from the Permanent Labor Certification Program some of the largest IT outsourcing firms in the world,” he declared. “Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini — and also, due to multiple active federal investigations, the Department of Labor is suspending Microsoft and Adobe from the program.”
BREAKING: Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling: “I am hereby suspending from the Permanent Labor Certification Program some of the largest IT outsourcing firms in the world — Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini — and also, due to multiple active federal investigations, the Department of Labor is suspending Microsoft and Adobe from the program.”
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) October 8, 2026
Sonderling said those companies have requested almost three million foreign workers and have received over 100,000 permanent labor certifications since 2009.
Do you believe the crackdown will effectively reduce job theft by foreign workers?
Yes, it will protect U.S. jobs
49% (19 votes)
No, it won’t make a difference
5% (2 votes)
It depends on enforcement
46% (18 votes)
Vance spoke during the news conference as well about H1-B visa fraud. He also announced a major investigation into nine American universities that are using J1 visas at exorbitantly high rates and “undercutting” wages for graduate students.
“These universities are employing J1 visas for federally funded grants at a rate of about 61 percent. The national average is 38 percent. So something weird is going on at these universities!” the vice president said.
🚨 NOW: VP JD Vance announces federal investigations into 9 UNIVERSITIES for visa fraud and undercutting American citizens
Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, the University of Pittsburgh, UC Davis, Caltech, Arizona State, and MIT
“These universities are employing J1 visas for federally funded grants at a rate of about 61%. The national average is 38%. So something weird is going on at these universities!” 💯
FAFO!!
“They’re using these visas way too much. They’re using them to undercut the wages of American grad students and American researchers. And it simply has to stop.”
OUR tax dollars fund these grants. They should be going to American students, not cheap foreign labor and INDENTURED SERVANTS
Same day Microsoft lost PERM. The fraud task force is on a roll!
Put Americans first or they should GET DEFUNDED. FULLY. 🇺🇸
This is exactly what we needed!
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 8, 2026
“They’re using these visas way too much,” he added. “They’re using them to undercut the wages of American grad students and American researchers. And it simply has to stop.”
Vance specifically cited Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, the University of Pittsburgh, University of California at Davis, Caltech, Arizona State, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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