Labor Department Suspends Microsoft and Adobe From PERM Program in Immigration Crackdown

The Trump administration on Thursday indefinitely suspended Microsoft, Adobe and six information technology outsourcing firms from the Labor Department’s Permanent Labor Certification program, saying the companies had abused a legal immigration pathway meant to let employers sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency.

Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling announced the decision at an event with Vice President JD Vance, describing it as historic enforcement action against what the department called systemic fraud. Under the suspension, new and pending applications from the barred firms will not be processed, according to the Labor Department.

What Vance’s task force said it found

Vance said an anti-fraud task force he chairs concluded that Microsoft laid off about 6,000 American workers last year while employing roughly 6,300 non-citizens brought to the United States on H-1B visas. He argued the program is intended for hyper-specialized skills that cannot readily be found domestically, and accused the company of misrepresenting its needs in order to replace skilled American employees with lower-paid immigrants.

Sonderling said the suspended companies have collectively applied to bring in nearly 3 million foreign workers since 2009 and received more than 230,000 H-1B visas. Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to CNN.

The announcement came on the same day President Donald Trump was scheduled to present Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Vance said the administration wants Microsoft to succeed, but wants it to do so by employing American workers, and offered no specific steps for the companies to regain access to the process.

Universities also face visa-fraud probe

At the same event, Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said the department is investigating alleged visa fraud involving nine major universities and that subpoenas have been served. CNN listed the schools as Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University, Brown University, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of California, Davis, the California Institute of Technology, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Arizona State University.

Officials said a separate review would examine use of the J-1 visa program, which allows foreign nationals to come to the United States as students, researchers or teachers. Vance said officials believe some schools use the program to hire foreign workers at salaries below what American employees would require.

The moves extend the administration’s broader campaign targeting legal immigration programs and elite universities ahead of the midterm elections.

Reporting based on coverage by CNN and USA TODAY.