Vice President JD Vance blasted Big Tech companies for firing American workers and then claiming they need visas for foreign labor Wednesday.
The H-1B visa program allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers for specialty occupations and is overwhelmingly used by the tech industry. However, it has long been controversial for some conservatives, who say it is abused by tech companies to bring in cheap, predominantly Indian, labor to replace American workers.
Vance spoke with The All-In podcast hosts on a panel at the “Winning the AI Race” AI Summit in Washington, D.C. The Vice President noted that while some Silicon Valley technology firms claim they need “overseas visa programs to find workers,” “the college-educated employment rate for STEM graduates in this country seems to be declining.”
“Well, wait a second,” Vance said, explaining his thought process. “If you’re not hiring American workers coming out of colleges for these jobs, then how can you say that you have a massive shortage in these jobs?
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“And by the way, you see some Big Tech companies where they’ll lay off 9,000 workers, and then they’ll apply for a bunch of overseas visas,” he added, referencing Microsoft announcing it was laying off 9,000 workers at the beginning of July amid reports the company had applied for over 9,000 H1-B visas.
Vance said that while President Donald Trump has advocated for the best and brightest to come to the United States and help build great companies, at the same time, “I don’t want companies to fire 9,000 American workers and then to go and say, ‘We can’t find workers here in America.’ That’s a bulls— story.”
One panelist noted that there had been “record profits, record market cap,” which Vance saw as further evidence something was amiss.
“But also saying they’re desperate for workers,” Vance said. “So, I have not yet had that conversation with Microsoft. In my defense, I just found out.”
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H-1B visas are an issue that has wedged a range of political constituencies, from the MAGA base to Sen. Bernie Sanders, against Trump and some of the Silicon Valley companies that have warmed to him in recent months. During a June 2024 episode of the “All-In” podcast, Trump promised to expand the H-1B visa program specifically for tech workers.
This H-1B issue pitted the MAGA base against entrepreneur Elon Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in December, shortly after Ramaswamy condemned the “mediocrity” of American culture.
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“The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B,” Musk wrote on X at the time. He then went on to quote the 2008 action-comedy movie, “Tropic Thunder,” and said, “Take a big step back and F— YOURSELF in the face.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Microsoft and did not receive an immediate reply.
Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
