As part of the Fraud Task Force crackdown, Vice President JD Vance, Vice Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling, Attorney General Todd Blanche, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, and Dept. of Labor OIG Anthony D’Esposito announced huge moves on the H-1B visa program and specifically the Permanent Labor Certification Program (PERM).

Vance pinpointed the Microsoft Corporation as a chief offender of foreign labor abuse and the actions the task force planned to take. 

Vance began:

The H-1B visa is how people get into the country. The PERM program is how they stay in the United States to begin with. Now, there has been no company in the United States, unfortunately, who has abused this system more than Microsoft.

Microsoft laid off, last year, 6,000 American workers. At the same time, the company benefited from 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards. In other words, if you do the math, for every worker that Microsoft laid off, they replaced that worker with one and a half foreign, indentured servants. Now that is a scandalous system that we've allowed in this country for far too long. But thanks to the work of this task force, and thanks to the empowerment of the President of the United States, we are going to stop it.

Because thanks to an ongoing investigation, we have decided to suspend the PERM program for Microsoft, which means they will no longer be able to apply, no longer be able to take those H-1B visas and apply for permanent resident status within the United States of America.

Now our message to Microsoft and to any other foreign or domestic corporation is quite simple: We obviously want you to thrive in the United States of America. We want people to invest in the United States of America. Particularly the American technology sector, we are the biggest boosters of your industry, we want you to continue to grow and employ a lot of people. 

But we want you to employ American workers. And so our message to Microsoft is, you're a great American company, but you've got to hire great American workers. You cannot lay off American workers and replace them with foreign indentured servants.

WATCH:

Vance then gave high praise and credit to the newly minted Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling for doing the research to spearhead this latest initiative to combat the fraud and waste in these employment programs. Vance called Sonderling to the podium for remarks.

Recommended
‘Make the Supreme Court Say It Twice’: Roberts Blocks 4th Circuit's Extraordinary Election Order Susie Moore Bombshell: DOJ Reportedly Seeking Criminal Indictment of Cassidy Hutchinson Teri Christoph

Sonderling announced that along with Microsoft, the Department of Labor would also suspend the PERM program for some of the largest IT outsourcing firms in the world: Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini.

Sonderling said:

This administration knows that American workers are the best and the brightest in the world. These jobs that were stolen from them should have gone, and will now go to the Americans first. Not foreigners, and especially not foreign fraudsters.

Thanks to President Trump, Vice President, and the task force, we are cutting off the head of the snake. The companies that have enabled this abuse for decades[...] 

And also due to multiple, active federal investigations, the Department of Labor is suspending Microsoft and Adode from the program.

So what does this mean?: We will not accept any new or process any pending permanent labor certification applications involving this company.

Since 2009, just these companies alone have requested almost three million foreign workers. They've received over 230,000 H-1B visa approvals and over 100,000 permanent labor certifications. That's hundreds of thousands of jobs that were taken from American workers.

WATCH:

We’re cutting off the head of the snake and protecting American Workers.

Beginning today, @USDOL is SUSPENDING Microsoft and Adobe among other companies from the permanent visa program. After a pipeline of systemic fraud has flooded our country for years with foreign labor, we’re putting an end to it today.

We are taking action under the direction of @POTUS and with the leadership of @VP and @USLaborIG on the @WHFraudTF

—DELIVERING for the American People, protecting their money, and punishing fraudsters. 💪 🇺🇸

Sonderling framed this as a historic action, and that is indeed what it is. Combatting fraud and abuse in these visa programs is not only saving money for the American taxpayer, but upholding and protecting the American worker. For decades, Chambers of Commerce and major corporations have turned a blind eye to the manipulation of these programs and dumped foreign workers into the mix at the expense of American ingenuity and sweat equity.

WATCH:

The HISTORIC action we’re taking today is a critical first step to END the MISUSE of the visa process and protect American Workers.

The suspensions of these companies from the permanent visa program are a HUGE WIN for hardworking Americans.

Our workforce is the most talented and driven anywhere in the world and that’s why @USDOL under the leadership of @POTUS, @VP, and @USLaborIG on the @WHFraudTF is ensuring American businesses hire Americans and not cheap foreign labor.

We WILL NEVER STOP FIGHTING FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND DEFENDING THEM FROM FRAUD. 👊 🇺🇸

Vance wrapped this up in a fine bow: This H-1B and PERM fraud is a direct assault on the American people, giving credence to the lie that "Americans are not good enough for the jobs in their own country."

WATCH:

There's this pernicious idea — and Stephen alluded to it  — which is that Americans are not good enough for the jobs in their own country. You hear people say that in subtle ways and sometimes explicit ways. When people say that Americans won't work on farms, or they won't work in certain dirty jobs, what they're really saying is that Americans won't work in those jobs for poverty wages, nor should they. When you hear people say that we have to bring in foreign accountants because there aren't enough American accountants, what they are saying is that there are not enough people who can do math in the United States of America, which is absurd. 

When people say we need to bring in foreign IT specialists and quite literally force people to train their own replacements, what we are saying is that there are Americans who cannot do those jobs, and that is absurd.

To the American people, this visa fraud is a frontal assault on the idea that you deserve to inherit the jobs and the positions in your own country.

Never believe the lie that Americans are not good enough to build a future for Americans. That's what visa fraud tells you, it is a lie. The President of the United States does not stand for it, and neither does anyone on this stage.