BOISE, ID — Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador has joined a 13-state coalition urging the U.S. Department of Labor to increase minimum wage requirements for workers employed through the H-1B visa program, arguing the change would help prevent employers from replacing American workers with lower-cost foreign labor.
The coalition submitted formal comments supporting proposed federal rulemaking that would raise wage floors for H-1B workers. According to the attorneys general, higher wage requirements would reduce the financial incentive for companies to use the visa program as a cost-cutting measure rather than to fill legitimate workforce shortages.
The H-1B visa program was created to allow employers to hire highly skilled foreign workers when qualified American workers are unavailable. However, the coalition argues that some large corporations have used the program to replace domestic employees with lower-paid foreign workers. The comments cite examples of major technology companies that conducted layoffs while continuing to file H-1B visa petitions.
In a statement, Labrador said the program was intended to bring in foreign workers only when Americans were not available for the jobs.
“The H-1B visa program was originally intended to bring in foreign workers only when Americans aren’t available. Instead, corporations have exploited it to replace American workers with cheaper foreign labor,” Labrador said. “I’m urging the Department of Labor to raise the wage floors that make this abuse profitable. When the financial incentive disappears, so does the scheme.”
The coalition’s comments also raise national security concerns, noting that a portion of H-1B visas in recent years were issued to Chinese nationals employed in technology-related fields.
Additionally, the attorneys general contend that the current wage-setting methodology may violate federal administrative law because it was established through agency guidance rather than a formal rulemaking process.
The Department of Labor is currently considering the proposed changes as part of its rulemaking process.
