Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday directed the state's Board of Governors to halt the use of H-1B visas at public universities, calling the program a "scam."
"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," DeSantis said in a press release. "We will not tolerate H-1B abuse in Florida institutions."
"That's why I have directed the Florida Board of Governors to end this practice."
"Florida leads the nation in higher education, and thousands of highly qualified Americans graduate from our colleges and universities every year," he added.
"If any universities are truly struggling to find U.S. citizens to fill their job openings, they ought to evaluate their academic programs to determine why they cannot produce graduates who can be hired for these positions."
The H-1B is a nonimmigrant work visa in the U.S. that allows an employer to hire a foreign worker in a "specialty occupation" — meaning a job that normally requires at least a bachelor's degree (or equivalent) and a body of highly specialized knowledge.
More than 16,700 employees at colleges and universities got H-1B visas approved in fiscal year 2025, according to Inside Higher Ed.
The program has come under increased scrutiny and reform under President Donald Trump.
In September, the Trump administration said it would ask companies to pay $100,000 per year for H-1B worker visas, prompting some big tech companies to warn visa holders to stay in the U.S. or quickly return.
"If you're going to train somebody, you're going to train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said at the time.
"Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs."
DeSantis during an event at the University of South Florida to discuss DOGE-style audits Tuesday said the program has "become a total scam."
"It turns out these tech companies will fire Americans and hire H-1B at a discount, and they are basically indentured servants because they go in, and they are almost all from one country."
"They come in with these brokers who make a fortune of this with arbitrage. They bring them in, and they are indentured to the company," he continued.
"So the company can basically pay them low … You have to prove there are no Americans."
"They will put an ad in the classified sections of a newspaper. Nobody reads that section of the newspaper … It's all become a total scam," added DeSantis.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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