Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) announced plans to introduce legislation aimed at phasing out the H-1B visa program, which allows foreign nationals to fill “specialty occupations” in the U.S. The bill seeks to eliminate the pathway to citizenship for visa holders, requiring them to return home when their visas expire.
Greene criticized the program for being exploited to flood the U.S. labor market with foreign labor, resulting in fewer jobs and depressed wages. She stated that “Big Tech, AI companies, hospital systems, and corporations across the board have abused this system to undercut hard working Americans.” The legislation would prioritize American workers in every industry, with a 10,000-per-year cap on visas for medical professionals—though even this exception would be phased out over a decade.
Greene emphasized that the visa program was intended to be temporary, fulfilling “specialty occupational need at a given time,” and warned against allowing individuals to live in the U.S. forever. She asserted, “My bill will take away the pathway to citizenship, forcing visa holder to return home when their visa expires.”
President Donald Trump expressed support for the H-1B program, citing its role in bringing in individuals with specific talents and training American workers in specialized areas. U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer noted that companies using the program had been “abusing” it, depressing wages and failing to protect American workers. She stated, “We will clamp down on these companies who are abusing and depressing wages and not protecting the American worker first.”
Greene concluded, “My bill shuts down the corrupt H-1B pipeline and puts Americans first again, just like we should’ve been doing all along,” adding that the impact of this bill would be “massive” as American workers secure good-paying jobs, benefiting the housing market by no longer competing with legally imported labor on visas.
