The Trump administration this week launched what it described as a "major investigation" into alleged fraud in the H-1B visa system, along with an investigation into human trafficking as part of a broader effort targeting immigration and federal entitlement fraud.
The Department of Labor and its Inspector General's office said Wednesday the anti-fraud effort would also involve investigations into human trafficking in the H-1B visa and Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) systems used by companies to employ non-U.S. citizen workers.
The Labor Department and inspector general, in a statement, said that both offices have "uncovered widespread schemes in which employers and labor brokers submitted fraudulent applications, exploited foreign workers through coercive wage-kickback arrangements, and undercut American workers by flooding the market with below-wage labor."
The schemes, it added, serve to degrade labor programs used by the federal government meant to address labor shortages across the United States rather than provide funds to "bad actors at the expense of American jobs."
As part of the investigation, the Department of Labor said that American workers should report any instances where they suspect they've been harmed or displaced by possible PERM or H-1B fraud or "related industry practices" and called on foreign workers who suspect they have been coerced, exploited, or were victims of fraudulent recruitment measures to also report their concerns.
Department of Labor Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said in an interview with Fox Business on Wednesday that investigators had begun issuing "dozens of subpoenas" as part of the new investigation, though he did not provide any details.
"This is another example where fraud is fueling violent crime," he told the news outlet.
"Much of the visa and the human trafficking that we see when it comes to this foreign labor is tied to cartels, is tied to transnational gangs, and this is the work that we should be doing, not only to make America safe again, but to make America more affordable again."
Elaborating, D'Esposito said that the investigations will entail "not just people working in factories or actual labor," noting that some individuals involved "are people working in medical facilities and doctors' offices that are actually putting people in harm's way."
D'Esposito and his agency, in the statement, linked the visa fraud investigation to President Donald Trump's and Vice President JD Vance's anti-fraud task force, announced earlier this year.
H-1B visas are non-immigrant work visas that allow companies in the United States to hire skilled foreign workers for a period of three years, which can be extended for six years. The visas, initiated under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990, have become politically controversial in recent years, with some groups and politicians accusing the companies of engaging in fraudulent activity to hire unqualified workers.
The PERM system involves an initial process for EB-2 and EB-3 employment-based green cards that requires action by the Labor Department to determine whether there are no qualified, available, or willing American workers for a position, according to the department.
According to a Pew Research survey released last year, India is the top country of birth for H-1B workers, accounting for about 73 percent of them. The second-most common birthplace for the visa holders is China, at 12 percent, the paper said.