H-1B Reform Bill Targets Visa Fraud, Sidesteps Employer-Driven Wage Suppression
Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV) proposes the 'End the H-1B Visa Scam Act' to eliminate the H-1B visa program, claiming fraud displaces American workers — but the legislation sidesteps employer-driven wage suppression, offers no worker protections or replacement pathway, and would eliminate a 85,000-cap program that already limits legal migration.
Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV) has introduced the 'End the H-1B Visa Scam Act,' a bill that would outright eliminate the H-1B visa program on the grounds that it replaces American workers with cheaper foreign labor. Moore points to alleged fraud at scale — citing unnamed sources who confirm the program is 'rife with abuse' — and claims bipartisan voter anger is building in West Virginia and beyond. The legislation would, if passed, effectively ban corporations from hiring skilled foreign workers under the current statutory framework.
But the reframe is narrow and dangerous. The H-1B program is used by tech and healthcare firms to fill genuine vacancies; the real abuse comes from employer concentration — outsourcing firms like Cognizant and Infosys dominate the lottery, depressing wages for both U.S. workers and visa holders. The bill offers no parallel: no prevailing-wage floor, no labor-market test for genuine shortages, no protections against retaliation for visa holders who report violations. Its focus on eliminating the program makes it performative deregulation dressed as populism — a bill that punishes immigrant workers while letting the companies that game the system off the hook entirely.
This is the administration's twin-track playbook on immigration enforcement: Hammer humanitarian visas while leaving the employer-driven wage suppression and visa fraud untouched. Moore's bill would also eliminate the H-1B cap — not expand it — collapsing a pathway that already has too few slots (85,000 per year) for a massive U.S. labor demand. The likely outcome: fewer legal workers, more employer incentive to use subcontractors or offshoring, and zero accountability for wage theft.
The humanitarian alternative
A genuine reform would keep the H-1B cap but shift from a lottery to a wage-based system that sets a high prevailing-wage floor — say, the median occupation wage plus 20% — to guarantee that workers are paid at a premium, not a discount, to U.S. equivalents. Congress should also close the H-1B-dependent employer loophole: ban any company with more than 15% H-1B workers from filing new petitions, and mandate real, third-party labor-market tests for certification. The bill should include whistleblower protections and a wage-restitution fund for visa holders, mirroring earlier calls for employer sanctions for wage theft. Finally, a pathway to permanent residency for high-skill workers — uncoupling workers from employer sponsorship — would stop the coercion and fraud at the root of the problem.
Falsifiable predictions
What this entry claims will happen, and what data would prove it wrong. The Reckoner revisits these against current reality.
- The 'End the H-1B Visa Scam Act' will not advance out of committee in the current Congress, but similar language will appear in appropriations riders or agency guidance within 18 months.
- By mid-2027, DOL or USCIS will issue a rule that effectively caps new H-1B petitions from companies with more than 25% H-1B-dependent status, reducing new issuances by at least 20% from 2025 levels.
- The administration will not pursue any concurrent reform to address employer-driven wage suppression in the H-1B program (e.g., raising prevailing wages or banning outsourcing companies) within the same period.
Original source — excerpted
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