Trump Admin Targets H-1B Abuses with 100+ Investigations

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) The Trump administration has opened at least 175 investigations into alleged H-1B abuses and unveiled a sweeping enforcement drive known as Project Firewall, a two-pronged push that officials say is meant to protect U.S. wages and jobs while scrutinizing employers who misuse the visa program. As of September 2025, the Labor Department says it has 175 ongoing probes into suspected violations, a number that exceeds the “over 100” cited in early statements and marks one of the largest coordinated crackdowns on the program to date.

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is leading the effort and said the department is deploying extraordinary measures to intensify oversight of H-1B employers.

“The Labor Department is using every resource currently at our disposal to put a stop to H-1B visa abuse, and for the first time, I am personally certifying investigations into suspected violations to better protect American jobs,” said Chavez-DeRemer.
Her personal certification of these cases, a step officials describe as unprecedented, is intended to accelerate investigations and signal to employers that audits and site checks will widen under Project Firewall.

The enforcement drive runs alongside a major cost increase for companies that sponsor new H-1B workers. On the same day Project Firewall launched, President Donald Trump signed a presidential proclamation imposing a one-time $100,000 fee on each new H-1B petition, with the charge set to take effect in the next annual H-1B lottery. The White House argues the fee will deter companies from filing mass petitions that flood the system. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick put the calculation bluntly:

“The whole idea is no more will these Big Tech companies or other big companies train foreign workers. They have to pay the government $100,000, then they have to pay the employee, so it’s just not [economical].”

Within weeks of the launch, the Labor Department confirmed it had uncovered over $15 million in back wages owed to foreign workers, a finding that officials say illustrates wage underpayment that also pressures Americans in similar roles. Investigators have documented cases where employees with advanced degrees were paid far less than advertised in job descriptions, a practice regulators say suppresses pay for both visa holders and U.S. workers who must compete in the same labor market. In some investigations, the workplaces listed on Labor Condition Applications—documents employers file to set work locations and wage levels—did not exist, and some H-1B workers reported they were unaware of the positions they were supposedly assigned to fill.

Officials describe a pattern that includes illegal “benching,” where H-1B employees are not paid between active projects; delayed or missing notices to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services when workers are terminated; and cases where employees were paid below the wage listed in approved filings. In other instances, job postings required to recruit U.S. workers were sloppily copied and pasted, bearing little relation to the real work on offer. The department says the list of suspected practices—wage violations, phantom worksites, and misuse of hiring notices—formed the backbone of the 175 ongoing cases and helped set priorities for Project Firewall’s field work.

The administration’s public messaging has leaned hard into the scale of the effort. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, amplified early reports of the sweep by sharing, “Trump admin reveals over 100 investigations into H-1B abuses as it pledges ‘every resource’ to protect US jobs.” The Labor Department later emphasized that the count had risen to 175 active cases as investigators moved through complaints, data matches, and surprise inspections. Officials said that number will remain fluid as cases close and new ones open.

Project Firewall, launched in September 2025, combines cross-agency data matching with random employer audits and unannounced workplace visits, according to the administration. Regulators say the data tools let them compare filings across agencies and flag companies whose petition patterns, wage levels, or worksite claims trigger anomalies. Those checks are paired with field audits and interviews intended to verify that H-1B workers are performing the jobs described in paperwork at the locations listed, and that they are being paid the exact wage promised in labor condition filings. Repeat violators, the administration says, are now highlighted on a Department of Homeland Security “H-1B Watchlist,” a new public disclosure tool meant to name employers that have drawn repeated findings and increase pressure for compliance.

For employers, the combination of enforcement and the new fee could reshape hiring decisions in the coming year. The Labor Department and the White House argue that higher costs will curb mass petitioning by large employers while making it less attractive to underpay skilled workers on specialty occupation visas. Businesses that rely heavily on global hiring, especially smaller tech consultancies and startups that file multiple petitions to improve their odds in the lottery, are preparing for higher upfront expenses and more frequent audits on wages, worksites, and job duties. Industry advisers warn that the fee and stepped-up oversight may push some companies to shift projects offshore, while others may turn to contract arrangements abroad to manage costs.

The administration says those trade-offs are part of a broader strategy to raise labor standards. Investigators cite examples where U.S. workers say they were asked to train their replacements on H-1B visas and to sign nondisclosure agreements as a condition of severance, an account described in a White House proclamation. Officials argue that curbing such practices requires both tighter policing and financial deterrents. The $100,000 fee, combined with aggressive use of audits and watchlists, is designed to alter the risk-reward calculus for employers weighing extensive H-1B hiring against stronger recruitment and retention of U.S. workers.

While the Labor Department’s headline number—over $15 million in back wages uncovered—speaks to immediate worker relief, the wider impact will be decided by how cases are resolved and whether penalties deter repeat behavior. Employers found to have underpaid or benched workers can face back-pay orders, civil fines, and debarment from future filings, which would bar them from using the visa for a set period. The department has not released a full breakdown of industries under investigation, but case descriptions point to information technology and related consulting as frequent settings for the alleged violations, in line with where the H-1B program is most widely used.

At the center of the crackdown is the Labor Department’s use of personal certification by the secretary, a mechanism officials say has not been used before in this context. Chavez-DeRemer’s signature on case initiations signals high-level involvement and may speed internal approvals for site visits and document demands. The department says this approach helps investigators move quickly when wage data, worksite listings, or termination notices show red flags. It also sends a clear message, officials argue, that oversight will now come with closer scrutiny from Washington and fewer chances for companies to correct problems quietly without formal findings.

Project Firewall’s methods lean heavily on verification of claims made in Labor Condition Applications, where employers must commit to paying at least the required wage for the occupation and location. Investigators say they encountered filings that listed worksites tenants could not find and job descriptions that bore little relation to actual tasks—signs, they argue, of filings created to satisfy paperwork rules rather than reflect real jobs. The department also highlights lapses in notifications to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services when workers are laid off, which can trap H-1B holders in a gray zone and expose them to unlawful nonpayment or exploitation during bench periods. Those findings align with a core goal of Project Firewall: closing gaps between what employers attest on paper and what happens on the ground.

The administration’s broader case for the fee and enforcement push turns on protecting wage floors. Officials say paying specialty talent “far less than what was advertised in job descriptions” depresses salary standards for everyone in the same teams and markets, and that unannounced inspections are essential to catch underpayment or benching that might not be obvious from filings alone. The White House supports the effort with a public naming tool—the DHS “H-1B Watchlist”—to add reputational pressure to monetary penalties and the risk of debarment. For visa holders who were shorted pay, the department points to back wages as an immediate remedy, but for U.S. workers, officials say the longer-term test is whether the combination of costs and oversight reduces practices that shift pay downward.

Businesses, meanwhile, are weighing how the $100,000 fee per new petition will affect headcount plans. Large firms with substantial cash reserves may continue filing, but with closer attention to exact wage levels and worksite documentation to avoid landing on the watchlist. Smaller firms, especially those for whom the fee is a sizable share of operating budgets, could scale back sponsorship or pursue remote teams outside the United States to keep projects on track. Immigration counsel say that random audits and surprise site visits will require more front-end compliance work—documenting role duties, confirming physical worksites, and ensuring wage payments match approved levels—before petitions are filed for the next annual H-1B lottery.

American workers in affected industries are watching whether the new posture changes practices described in the White House proclamation, including training of incoming H-1B staff who then take over roles and severance agreements that include nondisclosure clauses. The administration argues that, by raising the cost of each hire and lifting the likelihood of a visit from enforcement teams, Project Firewall will push companies to post genuine U.S. job notices and offer wages that meet or exceed what they advertise, reducing incentives to use visa workers at lower rates. Supporters of the crackdown say that rigorous oversight is overdue and that the program, designed for specialty skills, should never be a vehicle for wage arbitrage.

For H-1B holders, the investigations are a double-edged development: enforcement actions have already yielded over $15 million in back pay owed, suggesting relief for workers who were benched or underpaid, but heightened scrutiny may also bring job disruptions if employers retreat from sponsorship or if projects shift abroad. Workers who lose their roles rely on strict timelines to find new sponsors to stay in status, and delayed notifications to immigration authorities can magnify the stress. Officials say Project Firewall aims to address those harms by enforcing prompt employer reporting and shutting down benching practices that leave workers unpaid between assignments.

As cases proceed, the administration is urging employers to audit their own practices against what they have declared in filings to the Labor Department and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The enforcement toolkit includes cross-agency data checks that can flag mismatches between job titles, pay rates, and physical locations; random audits to review payroll and assignment logs; and surprise visits to verify that H-1B employees are on site doing the described work. Employers found on the DHS “H-1B Watchlist” face the added burden of public scrutiny, which can affect vendor relationships and recruiting.

Officials point interested parties to federal resources that outline the program’s requirements, including wage obligations, notification rules, and worksite attestations. The USCIS H-1B specialty occupations page explains the petition process and employer responsibilities, while Labor Department guidance describes how prevailing wages are set and how audits examine whether actual pay matches attestations in Labor Condition Applications. The administration says those rules are central to Project Firewall’s design: drive compliance through verification, deter misconduct with higher costs, and return unpaid wages to workers who were shorted.

Chavez-DeRemer’s pledge to marshal “every resource” signals the administration’s intent to sustain the push beyond the initial announcement. As the 175 investigations move forward, more cases could yield back-pay orders and penalties, with the department emphasizing that repeat offenders are likely to face debarment referrals. Whether the surge in enforcement and the steep fee reduce H-1B abuses will become clearer in the coming lottery cycle, when employers decide how many petitions to file and at what wage levels. For now, Project Firewall has reshaped the risk landscape: a higher bar for paperwork accuracy, more visits from inspectors, and a new price tag for every petition aimed at curbing the tactics investigators say drove down wages across the sector.