Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday night called on college students to press Republican Senate candidates to back eliminating the H-1B visa program, arguing it undercuts job opportunities for American graduates.
"You have a Senate primary going on right now," Vance told students at the University of Georgia during a Turning Point USA event.
"Every single one of you should ask those Senate candidates, What do you think about the H-1B visa? Would you co-sponsor the vice president's and former senator's legislation to eliminate that program because it's basically just something that big tech companies take advantage of?"
Framing the issue as central to students' economic future, Vance added, "When you guys graduate from this university, I don't want you competing against a low-wage foreigner for your first job.
"I want a company to have to pay you a fair wage for a fair day's work."
Vance, who previously introduced legislation targeting the visa program while in the Senate, said reform remains incomplete.
"One of the first pieces of legislation I sponsored was effectively to get rid of the H-1B visa because I cared so much about this," he said. While noting that "far more people" now support such efforts than a decade ago, he acknowledged, "it's not nearly enough to get it through."
He added that while "there are all of these things that you can do [in the White House] purely through administrative action," lasting change would require Congress "to codify this stuff."
Vance's remarks underscore an ongoing divide within the Trump administration and the broader Republican coalition over high-skilled immigration.
While business groups and many in the tech sector argue the H-1B program is critical for filling specialized roles, President Donald Trump-aligned populists have increasingly portrayed it as a tool that allows companies to depress wages and sideline American workers.
Recent college graduates face a more competitive job market in white-collar industries, particularly in tech, where hiring has slowed after years of rapid growth.
Critics of the program say it intensifies competition for entry-level jobs, while supporters maintain it addresses talent shortages and helps keep companies, and jobs, based in the United States.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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