Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito issued a stark warning on X, stating the foreign-labor visa program will look "very different 365 days from now than it does today." The comment, made in an interview posted by Benny Johnson, signals a shift from administrative oversight to aggressive criminal enforcement against alleged abuses in the H-1B system. D’Esposito emphasized that investigators are "building a case" rather than just handling paperwork errors, describing the current situation as "real" and involving significant resources to expose what the agency believes is widespread fraud.
The probe is already yielding tangible enforcement actions. On September 18, the Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General announced it had issued dozens of subpoenas and executed search warrants in multiple locations. As part of this crackdown, the agency suspended visa applications for IT services giant Cognizant and software firm Cloudera pending a criminal investigation. D’Esposito characterized these firms as part of a network of "fake employers" and "visa mills" that exploit workers, linking the issue directly to the administration’s broader border security agenda by calling H-1B a "back door" that must be locked.
This legal pressure accompanies a sweeping policy overhaul. An executive order signed on September 18 directs the Departments of Labor, Homeland Security, and State to scrutinize whether employers seeking H-1B workers have recently laid off similarly situated US workers. The order also mandates the Wage and Hour Division to review previously submitted Labor Condition Applications for potential violations. Meanwhile, the administration has extended entry restrictions for certain H-1B workers through September 21, 2027, imposing a $100,000 payment requirement for covered petitions from outside the US.
The White House claims these measures have already disrupted the industry. Administration officials report a 92 percent decline in H-1B registrations from the largest US IT outsourcing firms and a sharp fall in consular processing requests. While D’Esposito did not announce the abolition of the H-1B program, his remarks confirm that investigations, company-level enforcement, and further policy changes are expected to continue over the coming year.