As President Donald Trump’s administration weighs adding new restrictions to H-1B visas that allow a limited number of foreign workers in specialty fields into the U.S., right-wing media have railed against the program and argued for its eradication, calling the H-1B visa a “total scam,” blaming the recipients for a poor job market, and suggesting Trump should instead “deport them all.”
Research/Study
Right-wing media redouble attacks on the H-1B visa program
Conservative figures are calling the program a “total scam,” blaming it for a poor job market, and demanding Trump “deport them all”
Written by Gideon Taaffe
Published
-
The Trump administration is changing the H-1B visa program following right-wing media infighting
-
- The Trump administration is changing its approach to H-1B visas and switching from a lottery system to a “weighted selection process” that will reportedly prioritize applicants based on their anticipated salary. Currently, 85,000 H-1B visas are granted each year for specialty fields that require a bachelor’s degree or higher level of education, with businesses sponsoring qualified foreign professionals to come work in the U.S. for a period of three to six years. According to the American Immigration Council, “Employers first must attest, on a labor condition application (LCA) certified by the Department of Labor (DOL), that employment of the H-1B worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.” [The Independent, 8/13/25; American Immigration Council, 8/1/24]
- In January, there was some split among right-wing media figures on ending the H-1B visa program. Some right-wing media figures “defended the program, arguing that H-1B visas are ‘not enough’ to replace American workers or pointing out that less than 1% of the ‘high-skilled tech workforce’ are visa holders.” Other influential MAGA figures like War Room hosts Steve Bannon and Natalie Winters, Trump ally Laura Loomer, and Fox News’ Rachel Campos-Duffy “criticized the program as a ‘total and complete scam’ or even the replacement of ‘White Americans through legal loopholes.’” [Media Matters, 1/7/25]
-
Right-wing media are calling H-1B visas a “scam” and demanding Trump “deport them all”
-
- Fox News host Laura Ingraham called H-1B visas a “scam” while talking to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who said he is working to change the program “because that’s terrible.” Ingraham also claimed an issue for “the base of the Republican Party” is “this idea of foreign students coming to the United States and taking spots that would normally be, obviously, open to American students.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 8/25/25]
- The next day, Ingraham again called H-1B visas “a scam” with the chyron reading, “H-1B visa program needs to end.” Ingraham said, “The entire thing to me is a scam. There is no reason why we should be bringing in foreign workers when American workers are up to the task. If you believe in the free market, you’ve got to raise wages so American workers will actually do these jobs.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 8/26/25]
- In September, Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk claimed, “America does not need more visas for people from India,” adding, “Enough already. We’re full.” Kirk posted: “America does not need more visas for people from India. Perhaps no form of legal immigration has so displaced American workers as those from India. Enough already. We’re full. Let’s finally put our own people first.” [Twitter/X, 9/1/25]
- Conservative radio host Erick Erickson commented, “The United States is becoming no country for old men or women for that matter. Instead, we're a country for H1B Visas.” [Twitter/X, 8/26/25]
- War Room host Steve Bannon called the H-1B visa program a “total scam.” Bannon said, “The H-1B visa program is a total scam. The H-1B visa is to take the job of those 13 young people that died in defense of their country at Abbey Gate in Kabul, Afghanistan, on the 26th of August of 2021. It was to take their job when they got home.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 8/26/25]
- War Room co-host Natalie Winters: “In the same breath where we’re pushing tariffs because we want to protect American workers, you can’t then justify expanding H-1B visa caps. Frankly, any H-1B, I’d deport all of them.” She continued, “I’d deport all of them yesterday and I’d throw in the Chinese students while we’re at it and probably all Chinese nationals too. Because you know why? We don’t need these people and we never did, and America wasn’t built because we imported a bunch of Chinese nationals and a bunch of Indians and a bunch of people who don’t speak this language.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 8/20/25]
- White nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes claimed, “The job market’s cooked. It’s cooked because of H-1B visas. It’s cooked because of high-skilled and low-skilled immigration.” He added, “Has the GOP done anything about that? Absolutely not.” [Rumble, America First with Nick Fuentes, 8/20/25]
- Then-Infowars host Owen Shroyer claimed, “Right now it’s a giant scam, and it’s just costing American jobs” because “people are taking advantage of our asylum program, our refugee program, our H-1B program.” He advocated for fewer H-1B visa jobs, saying, “If you’re going to be bringing in H-1B visas it should probably only be doctors.” [Infowars, War Room with Owen Shroyer, 8/26/25]
- Right-wing podcaster Steven Crowder suggested Trump should cancel all H-1B visas for workers from India, saying, “Don’t need them because we don’t need the United States to look like India.” He continued, “There’s nothing I see from that country that I would want for this country.” [Rumble, Louder with Crowder, 8/21/25]
- White nationalist Andrew Torba claimed H-1B visas are about “accelerating our replacement.” Torba posted, “The H1B ultimately isn’t about increasing about productivity or cutting costs, it’s about accelerating our replacement. It’s a weaponized tool of the people who hate us.” [Twitter/X, 8/8/25]
- TheBlaze’s Logan Hall posted, “President Trump if you can hear me please end the H1B program and deport them all.” [Twitter/X, 8/26/25]