White House Suspends Microsoft, Adobe, IT Outsourcers From Green Card Program

The Trump administration suspended Microsoft and seven other companies Thursday from a federal program that lets employers sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency. The Labor Department announced the action at a White House fraud task force press conference.

The suspension covers the Permanent Labor Certification program, known as PERM. Employers use it as the first step in getting green cards for workers on H-1B visas. The named companies can no longer file new applications, and pending ones will not be processed.

Alongside Microsoft, the action covers Adobe and six of the world's largest IT outsourcing firms: Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies, and Capgemini.

Vice President JD Vance announced the move inside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, Attorney General Todd Blanche, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, and other officials stood with him.

Vance accused Microsoft of replacing American workers with cheaper foreign labor. He said the company laid off about 6,000 U.S. workers last year while holding 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. “Our message to Microsoft is: you’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” he said.

Sonderling said the eight companies have requested nearly 3 million foreign workers since 2009, receiving more than 230,000 H-1B approvals and over 100,000 permanent labor certifications. “We will not accept any new or process any pending permanent labor certification applications involving these companies,” he said.

The companies have not conceded the claims. Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Wipro, and Capgemini did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Tata Consultancy Services declined to comment.

Also on Thursday, Vance said nine universities will be investigated over their use of exchange-visitor visas for foreign researchers: Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, the University of Pittsburgh, UC Davis, Caltech, Arizona State, and MIT. He said 61 percent of researchers on federally funded projects at those schools hold J-1 visas, compared with a 38 percent national average, though he did not explain how the figures were calculated.

Subpoenas have already gone out to all nine schools, and the Labor Department is forming a visa fraud strike team. Reuters described the twin actions as the broadest strike yet against skilled-worker immigration programs, coming even as the administration has been courting closer ties with the same tech leaders whose companies are now under scrutiny.

The crackdown lands four weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, with immigration enforcement a central theme of the administration's campaign.