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Submitted by Steve Abramowicz of Heartland Journal –
On October 29, 2025, at the University of South Florida (USF), Florida Governor Ron DeSantis delivered a fiery address that laid bare the rampant abuse of the H-1B visa program. Speaking to a crowd of supporters and amid flashing cameras, DeSantis announced a sweeping directive to the Florida Board of Governors: “pull the plug” on H-1B visas at the state’s public universities.
This wasn’t mere rhetoric; it stemmed from a bombshell audit by Florida’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) team, revealing how taxpayer-funded institutions prioritize foreign workers overqualified Americans. DeSantis’s speech masterfully connected this university scandal to the broader H-1B crisis: a system rigged for cheap labor that fuels massive layoffs at Big Tech giants. In roughly 20 minutes, he dismantled the myth of “specialty talent shortages,” exposing a scam that disadvantages American workers at every turn.
The H-1B visa, created in 1990, was designed to fill genuine gaps in specialty occupations requiring at least a bachelor’s degree—think elite engineers, groundbreaking researchers, or Nobel-caliber scientists. Employers must prove no qualified Americans are available, pay prevailing wages, and face an annual cap of 85,000 visas. Crucially, universities are exempt from this cap, allowing unlimited, year-round hiring of foreign labor.
DeSantis shredded this facade: “Universities across the country are importing foreign workers on H-1B visas instead of hiring Americans who are qualified and available to do the job.”
Florida’s audit uncovered the rot: Since fiscal year 2022, state public universities employed nearly 2,000 H-1B workers, with 395 approvals in the first three quarters of 2025 alone. The University of Florida led with 156 beneficiaries, followed by USF (72) and others.
But these weren’t PhDs pioneering quantum computing. DeSantis rattled off absurd examples:
| Job Title | H-1B Holder’s Origin | DeSantis’s Scathing Remark |
| Assistant Swim Coach | Spain | “Are you kidding me? We can’t produce an assistant swim coach from this country?” fox13news.com |
| Athletic Operations & Communications Coordinator | Trinidad & Tobago | “$40,000 a year job… That’s an abuse.” |
| Graphic Designer (Athletics) | Canada | N/A |
| Psychologist/Counselor | UK | N/A |
| Marketing & Communications Manager | Albania | “Why are we bringing people in?” |
| Data Analyst | China | N/A |
| Public Policy Professor | China | “Why do we need to bring someone from China to talk about public policy?” insidehighered.com |
| Assistant Director, Assessment/Accreditation | Various | “Why are we bringing people in to assess our accreditation?” |
These roles—paying $40,000–$80,000 annually—demand no “specialized knowledge” unavailable domestically. Florida, ranked #1 in higher education, graduates thousands of qualified Americans yearly. DeSantis challenged: “If any universities are truly struggling… evaluate their academic programs to determine why they cannot produce graduates who can be hired.”
Universities, he argued, should tailor curricula to fill their own voids, not offshore jobs to foreigners.
DeSantis pivoted to the economic betrayal: H-1B as “cheap foreign labor.” Workers are “indentured servants”—tied to one employer, unable to job-hop without risking deportation. Brokers profit via arbitrage, flooding the market from one country (implicitly India/China). Companies run sham ads in newspaper classifieds—”Nobody reads that section”—to fake “no Americans available.”
“This is basically, in some respects, cheap labor that they are bringing in to try to save money,” DeSantis thundered.
Wages? Often 20–40% below market for Americans, despite “prevailing wage” rules gamed by consultancies. This undercuts U.S. families, suppresses salaries, and displaces grads burdened by $1.7 trillion in student debt.
DeSantis tied universities to corporate carnage: “It turns out these tech companies will fire Americans and hire H1B at a discount.”
Amid AI-driven layoffs—”troubling” nationwide—Big Tech exemplifies the scam. Google axed 12,000 in 2023 and thousands more in 2024–2025, yet approved hundreds of H-1Bs for software engineers. Meta, Amazon, Microsoft follow suit: Lay off Americans (often mid-career), replace with indentured H-1Bs at junior rates.
DeSantis invoked this amid Trump-era reforms like a $100,000 H-1B fee, positioning Florida as the vanguard. “We need to make sure that our citizens… are first in line.” Universities importing coaches while tech barons cry “talent shortage”? Pure grift.
DeSantis’s directive mandates audits, prioritizes Floridians, and repurposes $33+ million in DEI grants—e.g., canceling “$1.5M for ‘Challenging Anti-Black Racism'” in engineering.
Critics wail “xenophobia,” but DeSantis counters: Taxpayer schools serve Americans, not global arbitrage.
His speech crystallizes the fix: End abuse, reform programs, America First. Florida leads; the nation must follow.
This could all be fixed, and our national debt paid off significantly if we ban all non-citizens from welfare programs. Implement strict, enforceable work requirements for EBT, SNAP and Section 8 and mass prosecute welfare fraud with federal prison time for stealing from taxpayers. No government state school workers or contractors should be allowed to hire foreign workers.
*Editorial comments expressed in this column are the sole opinion of the writer.
About the Author: Steven M. Abramowicz is CEO and Editor of Heartland Journal.com and host of the Heartland Journal podcast.
One Response
If the liberal government tried to fix H1B’s it makes it worse……………