A Republican member of Congress is urging a full shutdown of the H-1B temporary work visa program, framing the move as part of a broader push to overhaul how the United States handles immigration.
On Tuesday, Texas Rep. Beth Van Duyne told conservative commentator Benny Johnson that lawmakers have overlooked what she described as the “unintended consequences” of immigration policies, including the H-1B system.
“That H-1B visa program has got to either stop right now until we understand the amount of just how it’s being taken advantage of, or redone so it doesn’t exist,” she said. “It cannot continue in the way it has.”
Why It Matters
Created in 1990, the H-1B program allows U.S. employers to temporarily hire foreign workers for “specialty occupations,” often in fields such as technology, engineering, and finance.
While President Donald Trump has defended H-1B visas as a tool to address what he views as a shortage of domestic talent, his administration has also moved to tighten the program—adding restrictions and imposing a $100,000 fee on new applications.
What To Know
By early 2025, estimates suggested there were as many as 730,000 H-1B holders in the United States. In recent years, major tech companies such as Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft have been among the most prominent users of the program, alongside employers in finance and professional services. The pro-immigration advocacy group FWD.US estimates that H-1B recipients contribute about $86 billion annually to the U.S. economy and pay roughly $35 billion in taxes.
Supporters of the program argue that scaling it back can disrupt employers and local communities that rely on specialized workers. Critics, however, have long accused H-1B hiring of disproportionately benefiting large firms, pressuring wages, and displacing American workers.
Van Duyne said her push to phase out the program fits within a wider strategy to “go after the immigration system.” She also pointed to repealing the 1965 Hart-Celler Act, which ended national-origin quotas that favored European immigrants and shifted policy toward family reunification and skills-based immigration.
“The program cannot continue in the way it has because it has absolutely hurt our American workers,” she said of H-1B visas.
Other Republican lawmakers have made similar arguments. In November, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she would introduce legislation to “END the mass replacement of American workers by aggressively phasing out the H1B program.”
What People Are Saying
Van Duyne said Tuesday: “We pass these massive laws without realizing the consequences. It has opened our country to people who shouldn’t be here.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a press release announcing the state’s lawsuit challenging the administration’s $100,000 fee: “As the world’s fourth largest economy, California knows that when skilled talent from around the world joins our workforce, it drives our state forward. President Trump’s illegal $100,000 H-1B visa fee creates unnecessary—and illegal—financial burdens on California public employers and other providers of vital services, exacerbating labor shortages in key sectors.”
What Happens Next
The Trump administration continues to roll out changes that limit approvals, most recently through enhanced screening measures and expanded social media vetting processes that took effect on Monday.
