INDIANA – Attorney General Todd Rokita is leading a coalition of 13 states in support of a U.S. Department of Labor proposed rule to raise prevailing wage requirements for foreign workers in the H-1B, H-1B1, E-3, and PERM programs. The change aims to better protect American jobs, wages, and working conditions from the displacement and wage arbitrage caused by the current H-1B system.
The coalition states argue that the existing H-1B program too often enables employers to import cheap foreign labor, displacing U.S. workers and suppressing wages. Most employers are not even required to attempt to recruit American workers first before hiring H-1B workers, and enforcement of existing safeguards has been weak.
“We’re talking about changing a federal program that currently enables and, in many ways, almost encourages employers to replace American workers with low-cost foreign labor,” said Attorney General Rokita. “It’s difficult to imagine a more disastrous and harmful policy. I am proud to lead these states and stand with the Trump administration to fix it.”
Key problems with the current system
- Worker Displacement: Companies have replaced American IT and tech employees with H-1B workers, sometimes requiring laid-off staff to train their replacements. Major firms have conducted large layoffs while simultaneously seeking thousands of H-1B approvals.
- Impact on American Graduates: Universities, exempt from the annual H-1B cap, have used the program to fill jobs that could very likely be filled by their own U.S. graduates, even as recent college graduates face elevated unemployment.
- National Security Concerns: Heavy reliance on the program by major tech companies has facilitated the entry of large numbers of workers from foreign adversaries, particularly China, into sensitive industries.
- Legal Deficiencies: The current wage methodology was implemented without proper notice-and-comment rulemaking and lacks a reasoned explanation tied to the requirements of the program’s authorizing statute.
The proposed rule would significantly increase the prevailing wages that employers must pay H-1B workers, making the program more consistent with its original purpose of allowing employers to fill genuine specialty occupation shortages with highly skilled workers, not serving as a tool to cut labor costs at the expense of American workers.
The attorneys general emphasize that raising wages is the single most impactful reform achievable through administrative action. Broader changes — such as requiring employers to recruit Americans first or overhauling or scrapping the H-1B program entirely — would require congressional action.
The coalition’s formal comment letter, led by Attorney General Rokita, is available here.
