At a Washington briefing on May 15, 2026, Vice President JD Vance pointed to a 6,000‑strong layoff wave in Silicon Valley and linked it to a 3,000‑green‑card backlog, claiming the Trump‑era PERM ban had left American tech workers without jobs.
Immigration lawyer Gnanamookan Senthurjothi countered, arguing that H‑1B approvals do not equal new hires, citing Microsoft’s 80 % extension rate and noting that extensions, amendments and status changes inflate the figures.
He further stressed that green‑card processing for Indian applicants began in 2013‑14; the current 3,000 approvals reflect pending filings from that period rather than recent hiring, and that PERM labor certifications are filed years before final approval.
Senthurjothi said employers must notify the Department of Labor when they lay off U.S. workers within six months of filing a PERM, and he urged a review of labor‑certification records to identify any unlawful displacement. A dislocated engineer in San Jose said the layoffs left him without a contract, illustrating the human cost.