Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating the abuse of the H-1B visa program following Governor Greg Abbott’s (R) call to pause the program.
Businesses have sought to scam the visa program by “setting up sham companies featuring websites advertising nonexistent products or services to Texas consumers in order to fraudulently sponsor H-1B visas,” Paxton’s office explained. Some businesses have registered in single-family homes or have listed their site as an unfinished building.
“Any criminal who attempts to scam the H-1B visa program and use ‘ghost offices’ or other fraudulent ploys should be prepared to face the full force of the law,” Paxton said in a statement. “Abuse and fraud within these programs strip jobs and opportunities away from Texans. I will use every tool available to uproot and hold accountable any individual or company engaged in these fraudulent schemes. My office will continue to thoroughly review the H-1B visa program and always work to put the interests of Americans first.”
In a recent letter to agency heads, Abbott wrote that “bad actors have exploited this program by failing to make good-faith efforts to recruit qualified U.S. workers before seeking to use foreign labor.”
The letter goes on to direct agency heads to cease any initiation or new petition to “sponsor a nonimmigrant worker under the federal H-1B visa program until the end of the Texas Legislature’s 90th Regular Session on May 31, 2027.”
The moves by Texas align with President Trump’s September proclamation imposing restrictions on immigrant workers. The proclamation stated that the visa program’s abuse has created a “national security threat by discouraging Americans from pursuing careers in science and technology, risking American leadership in these fields.”
