Top U.S. senators are pressing Big Tech companies to explain their reliance on H-1B visa workers even as they lay off thousands of employees.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) have sent letters to the nation’s largest H-1B users — including Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and JPMorgan Chase — demanding details on their hiring practices.
The senators asked how many H-1B workers are employed, what wages they receive, and whether American workers have been displaced as a result.
“With all of the homegrown American talent relegated to the sidelines, we find it hard to believe that Amazon cannot find qualified American tech workers to fill these positions,” Grassley and Durbin wrote to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy.
Grassley also took to social media, noting that U.S. STEM graduates now face higher unemployment than the general population.
“Maybe it’s because Big Tech is laying off U.S. workers while requesting tens of thousands of H-1B visas,” he posted, adding that he and Durbin are teaming up again to demand answers from the companies.
The senators’ intervention follows the Trump administration’s move to hike H-1B fees to $100,000 and replace the lottery system with a wage-based hiring process.
Grassley has also urged the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to halt work permits for foreign students, warning that allowing them to work under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program poses risks of job displacement and even “tech and corporate espionage.”
Under the OPT scheme, F-1 student visa holders can work in the U.S. for 12 to 36 months after graduation.
Critics argue that these workers are not officially counted in the workforce and do not pay taxes, sparking fresh debate over their role in America’s labor market.
