Posted on 10/30/2025 3:45:04 AM PDT by marcusmaximus
When the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced Project Firewall on September 19, media coverage focused on the press release—a pledge to “protect American jobs” by cracking down on H-1B visa abuse.
A month later, the program’s impact is already being felt—not through formal prosecutions, but through the quiet compliance panic spreading across U.S. companies that depend on high-skilled foreign talent.
Newsweek spoke to legal experts, immigration attorneys and Department of Labor officials who described how Project Firewall is already reshaping corporate compliance, legal strategy and the balance between enforcement and innovation in America’s high-skilled visa system.
Why It Matters
Project Firewall marks a turning point in how the United States polices high-skilled immigration. For the first time, the Labor Department can launch its own investigations into H-1B visa use without waiting for worker complaints, shifting the system from reactive to proactive enforcement.
-snip-
Under the Project Firewall initiative, the Labor Department can open inquiries based on credible third-party tips—not only formal complaints from workers—and coordinate enforcement with the Department of Justice (DOJ), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
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Jim
In before Gump.
How can someone complain to labor dept if they never get hired or even given an interview?
This is a Gump free zone.
“Run Forest, run!” ???
A company should have tp prove there are no US citizens that cannot take or do the job.
How about an Indian travel ban?
100% needed.
Someday I will tell you what a Pakistani chick did to me at a new job I had.
“A month later, the program’s impact is already being felt—not through formal prosecutions, but through the quiet compliance panic spreading across U.S. companies that depend on high-skilled foreign talent.”
No need for American companies to rely on high-skilled foreign talent. There are plenty of Americans who can do the job. Unfortunately, American colleges have graduated a bunch of melon heads. I wouldn’t hire anyone under the age of 35, and I wouldn’t hire ivy league graduates with the exception.
To end it, is to mend it.
The H1B visa program must be terminated.
Evil can’t be mended.
Maybe you can tell me. What does Forrest Gump have to do with hiring Indians to do American jobs?
I heard of the movie, but was never interested enough to go see it.
Great news. I have no doubt firms will outsource some functions overseas but I think that is going to be a good bit more limited than some claim. They already tried this in the 90s and had to bring a lot of functions back because the quality of the work they got from India was so crappy. They wanted direct oversight and control - so they started importing the cheap foreign labor instead. Now that option is effectively gone.
We may need to think about some kind of tariff or fee or unfavorable tax treatment for offshoring services. American companies doing business in America need to be overwhelmingly employing Americans.
The large fee on H1B's essentially takes care of that by making foreign labor more expensive to hire than American labor. With the incentive gone, you don't need to worry about enforcement. Companies will do what is cheaper - which is to employ Americans.
This is all smoke and mirrors. The new “reforms” are virtually toothless. A one time $100k fee enacted 3 years from now will do nothing to stop importing this 3rd world trash.
“Legal analysts also caution that the exact standards for “credible source” tips and secretary certification remain unclear, leaving employers uncertain about when and how investigations might be triggered.”
so what? they have nothing to worry about IF they’re NOT breaking the law ....
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