Libertarians Melt Down As Trump, Vance Crack Down on H‑1B Abuse and Protect US Workers

Vice President JD Vance used a post on X on Friday to highlight the administration opening a new front in the immigration war; this would be against employers who replace U.S. workers with cheap and frequently marginally qualified H1B employees. Often, U.S. workers are forced to train their replacements and are forbidden to talk about the experience through a "non disparagement" agreement as a condition of receiving severance pay.

Our message to corporate America is simple: We’re not going to let you lay off American workers so you can replace them with cheap foreign labor.https://t.co/Ct7CGfaGDp

— JD Vance (@JDVance) September 24, 2026

The fact sheet, Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Further Enhances Program Integrity and Interagency Coordination in the H-1B Visa Program – The White House, spells out actions taken by the White House to ensure the H1B visas are only used for their intended purpose of bringing top talent to the U.S. and not as a way of cutting labor costs at the expense of Americans.

The fact sheet highlights the $100,000 fee for H-1B filings to ensure only high-wage workers are cost-effective, and the 40 percent drop in applications for these visas. Much of the document supplements an executive order titled, "Enhancing Program Integrity and Integrity and Interagency Coordination in the Administration of the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Program – The White House," which was the subject of my post, "Trump Order Directs Federal Investigation of H-1B Hiring by Companies Laying Off Americans – RedState."

You would think that the government intervening to ensure that contract, and virtually captive, foreign labor did not displace American citizens would be a good thing. As I noted in "Inspector General Promises 'Handcuffs Await' for Massive Corporate Visa Fraud for Foreign Labor – RedState," fewer than one-third of American graduates with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) find jobs in their field. In fact, a history major has a better chance of finding a job than a computer science grad. There is no way this happens in an environment where 100,000 or so H1Bs are allowed into the U.S. unless the sponsoring corporations are premeditatedly deciding to discriminate against Americans in hiring; see Labor Dept. IG Launches Probe on Criminals' Big Business Through H-1B Program – RedState. 

We tell kids to get a degree in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, yet fewer than one-third of STEM grads ever work in a STEM field. Why is that? Is it a lack of ambition, or are jobs being filled by foreign candidates bidding against Americans on price? Nearly 10 percent of computer science and computer engineering grads can't find jobs in that field, despite living in what is arguably the Golden Age of computing. Indeed, your chance of finding employment with "any" college degree is about double that of a computer science/engineering grad; see No College Degree, No Problem — but for Recent Graduates, the News Is Not So Good – RedState.

The problem is even larger than the potentially high-paying jobs taken by H1B visa holders; their spouses can receive work authorization, too. This means that low-skill, entry-level jobs are also under assault: see President Trump's New Order on H-1B Visas Sends Shockwaves Through Immigrant Communities – RedState. Unfortunately, you'd be wrong. Libertarians and "free trade" people raised full-throated objections to the government's temerity in using its legal authority to benefit Americans.

This is Dr. Samuel Gregg of the libertarian American Institute for Economic Research.

With all due respect, Mr Vice-President @JDVance, businesses must be free to hire and fire as they need, subject to the demands of the rule of law. Absent that freedom, the dynamism and prosperity that creates jobs in the first place will soon disappear. https://t.co/AX7uqM8YjK

— Samuel Gregg (@DrSamuelGregg) September 24, 2026

With all due respect, Mr Vice-President @JDVance, businesses must be free to hire and fire as they need, subject to the demands of the rule of law. Absent that freedom, the dynamism and prosperity that creates jobs in the first place will soon disappear.

I'm assuming Dr. Gregg's media intern wrote this because "subject to the demands of the rule of law" covers a lot of waterfront, like racial quotas, ADA, age discrimination, "disparate impact," and...citizenship. Absent compelling proof that someone who speaks English as a second language with a degree that can't be readily verified as legit makes a company more "dynamic" than a company employing American workers, I call a-word-I-can't-use-here on the idea.

Businesses are forced to comply with a gazillion regulations crafted by big business lobbyists.

We have to put corn in gasoline, for God’s sake.

But the minute businesses might be forced to employ Americans, the cries of “FREE MARKETS!” fly into the sky like a horde of locusts https://t.co/XjPvw2JO3Q

— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) September 25, 2026

Cato Institute, the libertarian think-tank, which, since Trump was inaugurated, has revealed itself to be wearing the skinsuit of libertarianism in the service of open borders, also weighed in. Here is Scott Lincicome, the vice president for general economics. I would post his tweet directly, but he's blocked me...can't imagine why.

Inability to tell the difference between cheap labor and innovation is one of the grossest and costliest failures of the Old Right.

This @scottlincicome post is doubly foolish because @JDVance articulates the difference better than anyone in politics, and has for years. pic.twitter.com/DLpZVTPuzz

— Oren Cass (@oren_cass) September 24, 2026

Next up: banning robots & tractors.

This is from the Mercatus Center, which bills itself as being devoted to "classical liberal political economy."

There is something terrifying about politicians who don’t seem to understand that the private sector is private. Companies do not exist to carry out the government’s preferred labor policy. https://t.co/XlpUzraUfT

— Veronique de Rugy (@veroderugy) September 25, 2026

There is something terrifying about politicians who don’t seem to understand that the private sector is private. Companies do not exist to carry out the government’s preferred labor policy

That last is a fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between business and government. Government exists to protect and improve the nation. Some government actions may mean a business makes a lower profit margin than it would in an ideal situation. Wage-and-hour laws, OSHA and environmental regulations, withholding tax, etc., all fall into this category. All of those carry out the government's preferred labor policy. The H1B is a grift; it is corporate welfare, based on the abuse of a government policy. It allows a handful of large companies to replace Americans with a labor force that can't complain and can't move. The fact that the government has to act to bring these people in means this is not a private-sector decision to keep the program.

The resistance is understandable. If your grift is rejected at the highest level, then you become irrelevant. If you become irrelevant, then those sweet foundation dollars dry up. I want to find some principled reason to support importing low-wage foreigners who are essentially indentured to their employer and who can be sent home if they raise any objections to anything to replace U.S. citizens. But I can't. Just like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its fellow travelers in the GOP establishment were happy bringing in illegals to work in factories and in agriculture, this group wants to reboot the same failed, socially destructive policy in our technology and medical sectors.

A final thought. If you want to understand why socialism and communism are making a comeback among college-aged people (see 'One Generation Away': Stunning New Poll Reveals the Rise of Socialism in the Democrat Party – RedState), look no further than a selfish, bottom-line-driven economy that cheats Americans out of the chance to work in their own country and an establishment that cheers on the results. Abuse of the H1B visa is a major driver of the trend.

Editor's Note: The Democrat Party has been infected by socialism, and it's spreading FAST. Democrats are claiming there's nothing to worry about, but we know the truth.

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