White House targets Microsoft, universities in immigration crackdown

Federal officials announced a crackdown on the use of legal immigration programs by companies and universities, suspending Microsoft and other firms from a program that allows businesses to bring foreign labor to the United States and saying "subpoenas have been served" against universities.

"The Department of Labor is taking historic action by shutting down the pipeline of systemic fraud," Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said in announcing the decision Oct. 8 during an event with Vice President JD Vance.

The move reignites President Donald Trump's feud with elite universities, who have been under scrutiny since he returned to the White House, and opens a new front ahead of the midterm elections in his campaign targeting immigrants.

Sonderling said the Department of Labor is suspending Microsoft, Adobe and six information technology outsourcing firms from the Permanent Labor Certification program. The companies have applied to bring in nearly 3 million foreign workers since 2009, and have received more than 230,000 H1-B visas, but any new or pending applications won't be processed, Sonderling said.

“We are cutting off the head of the snake, the companies that have enabled this abuse for decades," Sonderling said.

During the same event, Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito announced an investigation into "visa fraud involving nine major American universities," naming the University of Pittsburgh, Harvard University, Stanford University, Brown University, University of California, Davis, California Institute of Technology, Arizona State and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"Subpoenas have been served, investigations are underway and nobody will be getting a free pass because their name is carved into an expensive building," D'Esposito said.