Senators probe Big Tech over H-1B hiring amid US layoffs

Senators Chuck Grassley and Dick Durbin are demanding answers from Amazon, Meta, Apple, Google, and Microsoft over allegations that these companies laid off American workers while simultaneously hiring thousands of foreign H-1B visa holders at potentially lower wages. The bipartisan inquiry comes as President Trump has imposed a new $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications, fundamentally reshaping how tech companies access foreign talent.

What you should know: Amazon faces the heaviest scrutiny for allegedly blaming AI adoption for massive layoffs while hiring over 10,000 H-1B workers.

• Amazon sponsored the most H-1B visas in 2024 at 14,000, compared to Microsoft and Meta’s 5,000 each, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services data.
• Senators allege Amazon blamed layoffs of “tens of thousands” on the “adoption of generative AI tools,” then hired more than 10,000 foreign H-1B employees in 2025.
• Meta conducted its “year of efficiency,” laying off “a quarter of its workforce” between 2022 and 2023, followed by another 3,500 layoffs in 2025 while receiving approval to hire more than 5,000 H-1B employees.

The big picture: Tech unemployment rates are “well above” the overall jobless rate, yet companies continue seeking foreign workers through the H-1B program.

• “With all of the homegrown American talent relegated to the sidelines, we find it hard to believe that [you] cannot find qualified American tech workers to fill these positions,” senators wrote to tech firms.
• The senators demanded responses by October 10, requesting “information and data from each company regarding their recruitment and hiring practices, as well as any variation in salary and benefits between H-1B visa holders and American employees.”

Trump’s $100,000 fee changes everything: The new executive order, effective Sunday, dramatically increases costs for companies seeking H-1B workers.

• Previously, tech firms paid only between $1,700 to $4,500 for H-1B visas, depending on whether the visa was expedited.
• Trump claims the fee will stop the H-1B program from being “deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor.”
• The order also proposes a weighted lottery system where applications for higher-wage jobs would be more likely to receive approval.

Key statistics: Data shows foreign STEM workers have grown faster than overall STEM employment in recent decades.

• The number of “foreign STEM workers in the United States has more than doubled between 2000 and 2019, increasing from 1.2 million to almost 2.5 million, while overall STEM employment has only increased 44.5 percent during that time.”
• “The share of IT workers in the H-1B program grew from 32 percent” in 2003 to “an average of over 65 percent” in the last five years.

What they’re saying: Trump’s order includes pointed criticism of how tech companies allegedly misuse the visa program.

• “American IT workers have reported they were forced to train the foreign workers who were taking their jobs and to sign nondisclosure agreements about this indignity as a condition of receiving any form of severance,” Trump’s order stated.
• Speaking last Friday, Trump suggested that money collected from the fees would be used to “reduce taxes” and “reduce debt.”

Industry impact: The policy change creates different challenges for large tech companies versus startups.

• Smaller tech firms have complained that Trump’s policy advantages Big Tech firms with deeper pockets, while critics worry the US risks falling behind in innovation as “Silicon Valley relies on a steady stream of start-ups to advance new ideas and technologies.”
• Most tech companies haven’t commented directly on the order, with Netflix founder Reed Hastings standing out among the few voicing support for the change.
• The personal nature of the debate is highlighted by the fact that Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella “were at one point H-1B visa holders.”

Legislative background: This pressure campaign revives a 2023 bipartisan effort that failed to pass.

• Grassley and Durbin previously introduced the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act, alleging companies have “used legal loopholes to displace qualified American workers and replace them with foreign workers who are paid subpar wages and put in exploitative working conditions.”
• The legislation sought to place new wage requirements on employers and education requirements for specialty occupations requiring “a bachelor’s degree or higher,” but died after being referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.