Hard Wire

Justice Department Targets Major H-1B Law Offenders

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In a revealing and emphatic address to American tech workers in Washington, D.C., Eric Sell — a legal advisor working under Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon — pulled back the curtain on the Trump administration’s reinvigorated approach to the H-1B visa program and its damaging effects on U.S. white-collar professionals. His message was clear: the administration is shifting gears, using old laws with new precision, and it's aiming directly at the biggest violators in the tech industry.

Sell made his remarks during a November 10 event organized by Kevin Lynn’s U.S. Tech Workers, a group that advocates for American professionals who’ve seen their careers displaced or outsourced under the guise of globalization and technological “progress.” The main culprit? A deeply entrenched H-1B visa system — and its even less understood sibling, the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program — both of which have been used for years to import foreign labor at the expense of American talent.


But this administration, Sell says, isn’t looking the other way. “We’re going after the whales,” he emphasized. These aren’t mom-and-pop firms bending the rules — they’re the multinational behemoths, armed with elite legal teams, that know the boundaries of the law and cross them anyway. “If they’re flouting the law,” Sell warned, “then that’s a slap in the face to the Justice Department, to the people of this country, and to the American workers who are suffering because of it.”

While the public may be frustrated by the pace of visible enforcement, Sell assured the audience that investigations are unfolding behind the scenes — carefully, thoroughly, and with a focus on lasting outcomes, not just flashy headlines. Two staffing firms have already faced settlements for discriminating against U.S. workers, with financial penalties and compliance monitoring now in place. And more actions, particularly against high-profile companies, appear to be on the horizon.


It’s not just about immigration policy — it’s about economic integrity. Sell called out the dangerous trend of corporate America replacing domestic workers not primarily because of innovation, but because of cost. “Recent changes in the global economy have had an outsized effect on the American workers, particularly in the tech sector,” he explained. While AI is being framed as the disruptor, the real damage, he noted, often stems from “the all-too-common reach for cheap labor.”

The numbers speak volumes. Foreign worker programs now support over a million visa holders in fields that once offered stable careers to American graduates. Meanwhile, investors rake in outsized returns — some estimates suggest more than $30 in market value for every $1 cut from American salaries.

Sell, speaking with a tone of urgency, drew a line in the sand. This administration, he said, is committed to ensuring that “advancements in technology will never be used as an excuse to forget the workers that built this country.” The Department of Justice, the Department of Labor, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are coordinating to crack down on exploitation and restore fairness to the labor market.


As Harmeet Dhillon’s team presses forward, Sell credited advocacy groups like U.S. Tech Workers for keeping the issue front and center. “You really need to have another voice in the room,” he said, “to make sure that these corporations can’t just run rashod over their workers.”

With the 2026 midterms approaching, and with Trump’s own mixed comments on the H-1B program causing ripples among his base, the question isn’t just whether reform will happen — it’s whether it will happen fast enough to stem the tide of outsourcing that has reshaped the American workforce.

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