The Daily Signal - BREAKING: Labor Secretary Rules Out Eliminating H-1B Program Amid MAGA Calls

Episode Date: December 11, 2025

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said the law doesn't allow the Trump administration to eliminate H-1B visas. An H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations. When asked by The Daily Signal if eliminating the program—a proposal popular with the MAGA base—is a possibility, Chavez-DeRemer said "I don't think that that's really what's in the law." The Daily Signal cannot continue to tell stories, like this one, without the support of our viewers: https://secured.dailysignal.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm at the Department of Labor with Secretary Lori Chavez-Daramer. Thank you so much for your time today. Yeah, thank you for having me. The Labor Department launched Project Firewall to address H-1B abuses. How many companies has the DOL prosecuted so far for the breach of H-1B program rules? Yeah, exactly. Project Firewall is our enforcement initiative under the auspice of the Department of Labor for very specific reasons. and that's to investigate companies for making sure that we're eliminating any waste, fraud, and abuse that are deployed against American workers. Everything that I do at the Department of Labor is to protect the American workforce.

So we have almost 200 investigations happening now that we have deployed, but Project Firewall was specific to the H-1B visa program. We want to make sure that we're not depressing American wages, that we're working very hard to protect. American jobs and that there is room for an H-1B visa program, but we want our companies to comply with the law. While President Trump's base seems to be united around the cause of reforming the H-1B program, some are saying they want to eliminate the visas altogether. Is that a possibility? Well, I don't think that that's really what's in the law, right? The law is H-1B visa programs were created for a reason. Immediacy, oftentimes, when you cannot find an American worker to do the job and companies need access to immediacy in the workforce,

that's what those programs are for, H-1B visa program. You want to advertise to the American worker first. You want to make sure that you cannot find an American worker first, and then you can apply for an H-1B visa program. So is there space in the law for this? Yes. But the goal is to make sure that we have a trained workforce. So if these companies are going to use the program, we want to make sure that they're also trained in American workers so that we can offer it to them first. And that if they're going to use the program within the program, they're not abusing that by either not advertising correctly where these jobs are posted. And that's why these investigations have been launched, because if a company is going to

depress American wages, not advertise accordingly, not report that a worker has left their company, we need to report that out to USCIS so that we know where these workers are. So there's a lot of compliance issues. We want to make sure that we're working with those companies so they do comply. But if they're not going to, that's why we have this enforcement initiative. And that's, again, to protect the American worker first. The president has added a $100,000 fee onto these visa applications. What effect do you see this having? Well, I think that that's an agreement that can be made with these companies. If they really need to use the H-1B visa program and they're using it within the law, then they're going to want to pay for that fee in order to initiate the program.

I mean, that is oftentimes what happens in a public-private partnership. So, Again, these companies, I would imagine, if they need that worker, that's exactly what they are agreed to paid, and that's what should be paid. Some say this won't have a significant effect because it will only apply to new workers instead of current H-1B people who already have their applications approved. Could you respond to that? Yeah, well, certainly what we want to do is when there is onboarding a company who wants to use these programs. If they're new to the program, they will pay these fees. Anybody who's used the program before, they can apply for the extensions, but they have to prove that they, again, that they're advertising to the American worker first. The goal of the United States, the goal is to make sure that we have mortgage-paying jobs

that these companies are using our trained workers first. And if they aren't trained and cannot find these employees, that we want the Department of Labor, we want to make sure that we do offer those skills, that we are offering them across the state so that we can have the future workforce. And possibly maybe someday we won't need that program, but currently some companies are still needing it. They're willing to pay the fee to have access for those immediate workforce. and then the Department of Labor wants to make sure that we're responding to the market demands

and training the American worker. The president has said there's not enough skilled workers to fill some of the positions that we have in America. Will this fee contribute to that? Will that help with these people still be able to fill those positions? How will that square? Yeah, I think that what you're asking, and I kind of have mentioned it early on, is understanding that the H1B visa program was created for a reason.

And that's when companies advertise, cannot find H1B, cannot find an American worker. So they have the second option. And that's to advertise that they've not found an American worker, but they do need the workforce in demand now. So until then, they will agree to pay that fee that the president has set forth. They can use the program. And then once they have an American worker trained, they can go back and hire that American worker first. So I think it works. It definitely works. And the president has been clear that we want to make sure that we're protecting the American worker. That's why you see his banner hanging off of my building here at the Department of Labor because the president, every decision that he has made

and that he promised to make and that the Department of Labor is doing is through the lens of the American worker. Recent computer science graduates face a greater unemployment rate in their field than America's average unemployment rate. Will your efforts to reform the H-1B program address this? Well, I think it's important to recognize, you know, what the market demands are, whatever the job sector is. And this kind of also apply when we're talking about AI, same way. You know, things change oftentimes, and what the Department of Labor wants to do is to make sure that there is compliance within the law that's being offered, and then any future initiatives that we're moving forward. What we're trying to protect with the H-1B visa program, Project Firewall, is that we do not want companies abusing the H-1B visa program in order to displace an American worker. So that's the goal of this initiative, and this initiative will work, and we want to work with our companies each and every day to make sure that they have the workforce that they need.

Have new staff been hired to conduct Project Firewall or should we expect to be seeing carrying out that initiative? Yeah, here at the Department of Labor, we work with the DOJ. We work with other agencies to make sure that we're complying within the law also. I think that's important that we all work cross-agency. That's one of the things that we often do with all of our initiatives and all of our workforce initiatives, especially. for instance, Department of Education, you know, the Small Business Administration, we work together. But we all work together to find out, you know, where some of these investigations need to be, make sure that we're also complying with the law.

Should employers be required to pay H-1B holders the same amount as what they would pay a U.S. citizen? Well, I think that that is the key here. We want to make sure that we're not depressing American wages. There's, you know, millions of dollars. that have not been collected in back wages from foreign labor. Now, some people might ask, well, we're recovering wages for foreign labor who's here? But what that does, if you do not pay those wages, if you pay them at a lower rate, it depresses the American wage.

That's not what we want to do. So we want to recover all back wages so that we can send that message out that you will pay what you've advertised. What we don't want is companies to abuse that and pay less than what was advertised. And that's where the abuse can come in. and that's why some of these investigations have been launched. Some instances have been found of U.S. companies advertising jobs for visa holders only so that Americans, permanent residents aren't considered. Is this illegal in what's being done about this?

Again, that is why some of these investigations have been launched because they will advertise on a website that the American worker never sees. And that's the part that we want to eliminate. We want to make sure they're complying with the law. If they want to use the visa program and they want to, to stay in the program, then they have to follow the law. So that's why you've seen, I've had to personally certify a lot of these investigations. That's never been done before. I've done one so far. But that's a tool that we have in our toolbox, and it has not been used

before. If a company continues to abuse the program, there's a possibility after the investigation's over, that whatever the penalty is, it'll be on the severity of the case. But also debarment can be one of the things that is done where they cannot use the visa program again. So companies that are name willful violators at the H-1B program, those people will not be able to petition for new applicants in the future. That's a potential consequence for them? Well, there's going to be lots of different consequences that go with the crime, that fit the crime. So once the investigations are done, then the severity of, you know, what the penalty will be, will be based on what the violations have been. So it can be different for different companies. You said you'd certified one

investigation under Project Firewall so far. Could you tell us a little about the findings there? Yeah, no, I cannot talk about the ongoing investigations about who it is. Again, what we want to address is all of the abuse of any H program. And so the H-1B visa program once the investigations are done, and that is revealed that I can't talk about specifics of the case. But, you know, I address some of the reasons why a company might be investigated. Some Republican members of Congress think that one of the ways to address H-1B abuses is to end. in the optional practical training program, temporary employment program that they say

is a feeder for H-1Bs. Would doing this preserve American jobs, what are your thoughts on that? Well, listen, the administration's goal and the Department of Labor's goal is always to preserve American jobs. We want every American worker to live the American dream. Congress has determined what a lot of the laws are.

My job is to enforce the law. And so eliminating, determining what is no longer working, that's going to be up to Congress. And until then, my goal is to protect the American worker. And I will continue to do that amongst any initiative that is run here through the Department of Labor. Another type of migrant visa, H2A's, there's been talked throughout the administration of a plan where migrant farm workers would be able to leave the country and then reenter and get these H2A's. Do you have an update on that and how that policy would affect the American worker?

Well, certainly the H-2A program is another one that runs through the Department of Labor, but also I work very closely with the Department of Homeland and the Department of State. My job at the Department of Labor is to certainly test the markets and where these programs need to be done. One of the things that the Department of Labor did in order to have the ease of using this program is to develop the Office of Immigration Policy through the Department of Labor. The one-size fits all no longer works. We want to streamline the approach. We want to, you know, American companies to be able to use these programs effectively, efficiently, be more cost-effective.

And so we're going to continue to work with Department of Homeland to determine how many H-2A workers when they're needed. And it's up to Homeland to determine if they're going back to their home countries and then returning, I let them know what's needed in the market and then they determine that. Excellent. And there's reporting lately H-1Bs have been in the, the news because visa applicants in India say they've had their interviews postponed. Could you speak to what's going on there and what the purpose of that is? Yeah, I can't be specific in specific to any country, but we do see trends. We do understand that if there was no abuse,

we would see foreign labor maybe applying for the H-1BVs program from all countries. So we want to make sure that we're investigating that, no specifics to any specific company, but we just want to make sure that they're complying with the law. That's my job. And we'll use the full force of this initiative program, Project Firewall, to determine that. Some AI experts say that artificial intelligence could eliminate many jobs in the United States. Some are even predicting it could eliminate almost all jobs. What do you plan to do about that? Well, listen, certainly I know that this is top of mind.

It's top of mind for the president. And I think it's top of mind for the president, specifically, because how exciting it is. transformational really we're going to see a new era just like we saw in the industrial age the technology age we're seeing the age of AI and it's transformative in job creation we will see more job creation because of AI then we're going to see you know any possible displacement my goal the Department of Labor is to work with companies across the nation so they make sure they have the skilled workforce that answer the market demands not to determine what those

market demands are but when in my mass I need a workforce for this day and age we're going to produce that workforce we want Americans to be comfortable to know that our jobs to protect their job that's what the Department of Labor does so I'm excited about AI I sit on the AI task force with many other Department of Education and so forth this is an exciting time for Americans we want to make sure that they're proficient and that they're literate in AI and we're going to deploy those dollars to those respective states to get them trained in AI so that we can win the AI race that the president has set forth because not only is it a matter

of national security, it's a matter of job security here. We want to make sure that our employees across this nation and employers understand how great AI can affect their jobs and it's an exciting time in the United States. What would your message be to those who are concerned about this, who are worried their jobs might disappear in five or ten years? What would you say to them? Well, I think probably most of that comes. You'll see the media talk about, you know, the fear mongering of it. We're going to, you're going to lose your job. I can tell you this.

We're deploying everything we can here at the Department of Labor to make sure that that exactly doesn't happen. Now, how do we do that? We work with our respective states. We make sure that the market demands are met. We make sure that our skilled workforce is trained and retrained, if need be. We deploy the dollars. I mean, we are working with over 81 different. programs throughout the country where we've deployed millions of dollars to make sure that AI

workforce is trained in that. What we don't want to do is lose this race to another country. And the president has been clear on that. So I would say to the future workforce of America, the Department of Labor is here to answer those market demands. What they need from us, we're creating an AI hub. So we collect the data points from the private sector companies across who is it that they need? When do they need them? And how can the Department of Labor train that future workforce? We're excited about it. It's going to create millions of jobs. And I think that this is, it's a positive, a net positive for this country. And I'm excited to do it. I have a whole team in place, and we're ready to go. Switching years a little bit, the Department of Labor has

taken on some of the responsibilities of the Department of Education as part of that effort to dismantle the agency. What results have you seen so far? Well, the president has been clear getting the bureaucracy out of Washington, D.C. for Department of Education. We know that 70% of fourth graders through eighth graders are not literate in reading, writing, and math. We need to answer the call of what parents want, what students want, what our markets want. Where's the job growth coming from? They have to be proficient. So I'm working with Secretary McMahon. We're taking on some of the Department of Education employees over here.

We're taking on a lot of the grant dollars, whether it's for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, whether it's for employment and training, adult education, that is what we're taking over here. Because we're not forgetting about the prospective workforce and the education. We're addressing that education is our future workforce. These are our young students, our families,

oftentimes even in our community colleges, a 27-year-old or a 30-year-old wants some reskilling or retraining, we're deploying those dollars. That's what matters. So we want it closest to the people, and that's to work with our respective states to get those dollars to all of them so that they can deploy those dollars for what the market demands are in their state. So we have the MOUs, the memorandum of understanding with the Department of Education to address K-12 and post-secondary, connect it with market demand,

And a few weeks ago, we launched, you know, career and technical education dollars out to those states as well. So we're on the ground. We're getting the job done. It's a great coalition between Department of Education and the Department of Labor. And I don't think it should be a surprise to anybody that recognizing that they are our future workforce and they deserve those dollars in their hands. After a little bit of time trying this out, seeing how it goes, is this something you'd recommend Congress codify into law to make sure it last be on the Trump of administration? what are kind of your assessments after a little bit of doing this? Yeah, that's a good question because anything that we do in a pilot setting or, you know, a trial setting, because to be clear, this is still run under the Department of Education, still manage under that.

We're just deploying those dollars because we see what the market demands are. But this is going to be successful because I think the states are going to appreciate that they have the access to those dollars closest to the ground, like I mentioned. And I will look to Congress to say, here's the metrics, here's what's been proven, and if you want to codify that, because I think the president's been clear, we're failing our education system through the federal Department of Education, and we want to get that to the state education departments in order to, again, deploy those dollars to that future workforce. As a former member of Congress, are you able to leverage that form of experience in a unique way when talking to these members about? putting this into law. I think any time that you've had experience in a past job, I was a mayor of my city. So when I talked to mayors, we have that connection. It's the same with Congress. You know, I worked really hard while I served my time in Congress. I was on the Education and Workforce Committee, Transportation and Infrastructure, Ag Committee. That's why all of this matters.

So certainly I built those relationships. Now as the Secretary of Labor, it's my job to give them technical assistance when they're drafting bills and legislation. It's up to them to do the legislative side of that, but the relationship building doesn't stop. I think that that really comes from the leadership of this president where he says, listen, work with your congressman, understand that, work with your respective states, and it's helpful that I was there before in order to build those relationships. And now that we're nearing kind of one at the end of your first year as Labor Secretary of the Trump administration, what do you see as the legacy of this first year of this new era of the Labor Department? Oh my gosh, it's so exciting. And I don't say

that in Jess, because when I first came on, Department of Labor has always been a little subdued, right? We work with the labor force. But if you really think about it, we touch a little bit of all the agencies, and we touch everybody's life, really from the beginning. Think about what the president is doing by investing with new families and newborns, at $1,000 in future education for future retirements, that compounding effect. I touch all American workers, and now I'm getting to touch the education portion of it, where I'm making sure that they are, can read, write, do math, and make sure that they can have a job that will be a mortgage-paying job and live the American dream. I get to talk about the future workforce, the current workforce, protecting them,

making sure that every American worker goes home at the end of the day, keeping them safe, and then all the way into retirement, where I'm talking about employee benefits for companies. I talk about retirements. I talk about 401Ks. There is a lot the Department of Labor touches, interagency, the president has made it clear, work with all the other agencies, get on the ground and talk to the American people. So that's what we've done. I've hit 36 out of 50 states in the first year. We'll finish up the 50 state tour.

We'll report back to the American people what we've heard, and we'll deploy those dollars in order to help every American realize their American dream. You're one of the few, maybe the only presidential cabinet, appointees who's been praised by Democrats for your support of unions, unions, do you see the Republican Party moving more in that pro-labor direction? Well, what I see is more of the pro-labor moving toward the Republican Party because of the values. One of the things that the president talked about a lot on his campaign in the first

Trump administration and certainly in the second was understanding that he's the president of the American worker, protecting American workers first. Again, every decision that he makes and every decision I make goes through that lens. So pairing the two together, management and labor, it only makes sense. Why wouldn't we want to bring everybody to the table? And that was one of the things that I talked to the president about when I was being appointed for this job was I told him I could fill every single table, every single time, and bring business and management together so that we, or excuse me, business and labor together, so that we can answer the call of people want to build in this country with their hands. They want to work, they want to have mortgage-paying jobs, and at the end of the day, they want to go home safe, and they want to provide for their families. That's what I'm doing. That's what the president is doing.

And so I would say that this coalition is coming together, and you're going to see more labor unions side with the Republican Party, because they're the voice of the American worker. Well, thank you so much. It's been great to talk to you today. Yeah, you too. Thanks, Louise. Thank you.