Attorney General Todd Rokita announced on May 28 that he is leading a coalition of 13 states in support of a U.S. Department of Labor proposed rule to raise prevailing wage requirements for foreign workers in the H-1B, H-1B1, E-3, and PERM programs. The proposed change is intended to protect American jobs, wages, and working conditions from displacement and wage arbitrage associated with the current H-1B system.
The coalition argues that the existing H-1B program often enables employers to import cheaper foreign labor, which they say displaces U.S. workers and suppresses wages. According to the group, most employers are not required to attempt recruiting American workers before hiring H-1B employees, and enforcement of current safeguards has been weak.
“We’re talking about changing a federal program that currently enables and, in many ways, almost encourages employers to replace American workers with low-cost foreign labor,” said Attorney General Todd Rokita. “It’s difficult to imagine a more disastrous and harmful policy. I am proud to lead these states and stand with the Trump administration to fix it.”
The coalition outlined several issues with the current system: companies have replaced American IT and tech employees with H-1B workers—sometimes requiring laid-off staff to train their replacements—and major firms have conducted large layoffs while seeking thousands of new H-1B approvals. Universities exempt from annual caps have used the program for positions that could be filled by recent U.S. graduates facing high unemployment rates. There are also national security concerns regarding reliance on workers from countries such as China entering sensitive industries through this program.
The attorneys general stated that raising prevailing wages would make the program better aligned with its original intent—to fill genuine specialty occupation shortages rather than serve as a tool for reducing labor costs at Americans’ expense. They said broader reforms like mandatory recruitment of Americans or overhauling or ending the H-1B program would require congressional action.
