SCOOP: Sen. Eric Schmitt targets H-1B DEI "abuse" at universities and corporations
As Missouri Attorney General, Schmitt took on some of the most consequential cases about health care, the First Amendment, and the weaponization of government. Now, H-1B abuse is in his sights.
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R., Mo.) wants to tackle what he calls the “abuse” of America’s H-1B visa program; as the Trump administration moves to drastically overhaul the program, Schmitt got in on the action himself.
Schmitt wrote to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Administrator Joseph Edlow and provided “multiple examples of U.S. employers using the H-1B visa program to fill DEI positions which is outside of the ‘specialty occupation’ intent of the program.”
Schmitt explained his thinking to the Washington Reporter. “It is an outrage that American companies and universities are abusing the H-1B visa program to hire foreign workers to staff DEI positions,” he said. “The H-1B visa program was intended to fill specific specialty occupation shortages in America. The abuse of this program to fill DEI bureaucracies should never have been allowed and I am proud to be leading the charge alongside the Trump administration to put American workers first.”
But, Schmitt’s findings run counter to the intent of that program.
“Carnegie Mellon University, for example, filed a LCA for the position of ‘Associate Dean of Diversity, Inclusion, Climate & Equity’ in 2021,” he wrote to Edlow. “Yale New Haven Health filed numerous LCAs for ‘Diversity and Inclusion Specialists’ in 2020 and 2021. Dartmouth College filed for a position titled “Program Manager, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion” in 2023.”
While only a freshman senator, Schmitt has quickly made his mark on the Senate GOP conference, both on and off the Congressional Baseball Game field.
As Missouri Attorney General, Schmitt took on some of the most consequential cases about health care, the First Amendment, and the weaponization of government. Now, the “large banks and law firms to universities, healthcare systems, and even municipal park districts” that abuse America’s immigration system are squarely in his sights.