Texas Republican Representative Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) has introduced legislation that would impose penalties of up to $100,000 per violation on employers abusing the H-1B visa program.
The bill, known as the “H-1B Visa Fraud Crackdown Act,” raises the maximum civil penalty for willful violations from $5,000 to $100,000. It also increases fines from $35,000 to $250,000 when an employer terminates an American worker within 90 days of filing a visa petition.
The legislation would further bar H-1B employers who commit willful violations from sponsoring new visas for at least five years. If the violation results in displacement of an American worker, the ban could extend up to ten years.
Van Duyne described current penalties as “a slap on the wrist,” noting that employers often save tens of thousands of dollars by importing foreign workers instead of hiring U.S. citizens. “The $100,000 penalty is already federal law for falsifying information to the government,” she explained. “We were just being consistent.”
Van Duyne has been working with the U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services and the Department of Labor on this issue. She cited a letter sent by Texas Republicans—including Reps. Pat Fallon, Ronny Jackson, and Brandon Gill—to the Trump administration urging reforms to close loopholes in the H-1B program.
Sara Gonzales, host of BlazeTV’s “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered,” praised the bill as a critical step toward reforming the system. “Any meaningful steps to crack down on the fraud and over abuse of the H-1B visa system is very welcome,” she stated.
Van Duyne emphasized that wage suppression and fraud should not be partisan issues, but she noted Democrats are likely to oppose the bill because they seek to maintain populations in their districts.
