In an interview that aired on Thursday’s edition of Human Events Daily, host Jack Posobiec spoke with Vice President JD Vance aboard Air Force 2 about the effects America’s H-1B visa program has had on American workers, and how the Trump administration is working to rectify the situation. Vance said that he would ideally like to eliminate the visa program altogether.
Vance said that the administration inherited 40 years of presidents “who were offshoring jobs, importing cheap, foreign labor. Like, I just think you have to level with people that if you’re trying to undo 40 years of bad policy, of globalization, of shipping American jobs overseas, it’s going to take a little bit of time to fix that.”
“Now, do I think we’ve made incredible progress? Absolutely. But I think we just have to be honest with people. Look, we’re trying to fix what was broken over 40 years. Everything was not going to be fixed in 18 months. but you can’t ignore people’s concerns.”
Regarding H-1B visas, Vance said, “My belief on this is the H-1B program has been totally taken advantage of—not just by technology companies— by accounting firms, by people who are basically defrauding the American worker.”
“If you want to say, oh, I'd like to bring a genius into the United States of America, you can have that conversation. But if you're going to bring in an accountant making $45,000 a year to replace an accountant who's an American making $60,000 a year, that's not you using the program to bring in a genius. That's you destroying American jobs and defrauding the American people.”
He said he understood people’s frustrations with the program, adding that the Trump administration has “done more on the H-1B visa than any administration in history,” noting the $100,000 fee the administration has attempted to implement for businesses seeking workers under the program, which has been in the midst of a legal battle.
He continued, “My view is the H-1B program is completely broken, and I’d be very supportive of just eliminating it. But while we have it, what we have to do is protect American workers. So I understand people are annoyed. What I would say is tell your congressman to fix this program. Meanwhile, we in the Trump administration are trying to at least make it less fraudulent.”
Vance said that the administration inherited 40 years of presidents “who were offshoring jobs, importing cheap, foreign labor. Like, I just think you have to level with people that if you’re trying to undo 40 years of bad policy, of globalization, of shipping American jobs overseas, it’s going to take a little bit of time to fix that.”
“Now, do I think we’ve made incredible progress? Absolutely. But I think we just have to be honest with people. Look, we’re trying to fix what was broken over 40 years. Everything was not going to be fixed in 18 months. but you can’t ignore people’s concerns.”
Regarding H-1B visas, Vance said, “My belief on this is the H-1B program has been totally taken advantage of—not just by technology companies— by accounting firms, by people who are basically defrauding the American worker.”
“If you want to say, oh, I'd like to bring a genius into the United States of America, you can have that conversation. But if you're going to bring in an accountant making $45,000 a year to replace an accountant who's an American making $60,000 a year, that's not you using the program to bring in a genius. That's you destroying American jobs and defrauding the American people.”
He said he understood people’s frustrations with the program, adding that the Trump administration has “done more on the H-1B visa than any administration in history,” noting the $100,000 fee the administration has attempted to implement for businesses seeking workers under the program, which has been in the midst of a legal battle.
He continued, “My view is the H-1B program is completely broken, and I’d be very supportive of just eliminating it. But while we have it, what we have to do is protect American workers. So I understand people are annoyed. What I would say is tell your congressman to fix this program. Meanwhile, we in the Trump administration are trying to at least make it less fraudulent.”
