Employers See Spike in Labor Department Immigration Enforcement

Employers using the H-1B program to tap foreign talent are facing more intense investigations from the Labor Department, showing the agency is now taking a stronger hand in the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.

According to a DOL official, the department has marked a 48% increase in its caseload of H-1B investigations since it launched Project Firewall last year and immigration attorneys said their clients have seen a drastic increase in the number of site visits as well as more complicated, data-driven information inquiries.

The enforcement project targets violations of the H-1B specialty occupation visa program most heavily used by tech giants like Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp, Alphabet Inc, and Meta Platforms, threatening fines and debarment from the program for violators.

The initiative shifts the DOL’s H-1B investigations from being driven by and focused on complaints from workers or external parties to a more aggressive internally-launched program that’s more difficult to navigate, creating a compliance minefield for companies seeking to hire foreign workers.

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According to the DOL, investigators prioritize cases where employers may be failing to recruit US workers in good faith, giving preference to immigrant workers, retaliating against those who raise concerns, and misrepresenting job duties, requirements, or working conditions.

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The DOL recently rolled out a new proposal for prevailing wage levels that would boost salaries for H-1B workers, adding another compliance obstacle for employers. DOL’s main role in the H-1B process is to ensure employees on visas are paid the prevailing wage and don’t displace American workers.

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