Vice President JD Vance, along with Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling and Attorney General Todd Blanche, announced at a press conference that the administration would bar Microsoft and seven other companies from seeking green cards for skilled foreign workers.
President Donald Trump honored Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and other tech leaders in a ceremony celebrating industry leaders.
Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers last year while benefiting from 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards, effectively replacing each laid-off worker with one and a half foreign workers.
The administration's action will encourage more companies to expand investments and hiring outside the US, particularly for R&D, which will harm US workers far more than anything alleged at the press conference.
Brad Smith spoke to Politico in Ireland, denying Vance's accusations and warning about the impact of green-card restrictions.
The accusations that Microsoft replaced 6,000 laid-off workers with 9,000 foreigners are completely off base; the vast majority of visa and green card applications were for existing employees, not new hires.
Blocking pathways to permanent residency for highly skilled immigrants could cripple the US technology sector for more than a generation and drive talent abroad.
Microsoft hired 9,200 American workers in our last fiscal year, a contribution that was left out of the administration's narrative.
Foreign-born employees are not paid less than American workers; Microsoft uses the same compensation system for all employees regardless of immigration status.
Five of the six Americans honored with technology and science medals were immigrants, and their companies together have a market value exceeding 25 percent of the S&P 500.
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