Trump Admin Launches Probe Into H-1B Visa Fraudsters Stealing Jobs From Americans
The invesitgation aims to further President Trump's goal to end foreign violence on American soil and return jobs to the American people.The invesitgation aims to further President Trump's goal to end foreign violence on American soil and return jobs to the American people.Trump Gold Card visa plan breakdown: Big promises vs. small reality
The controversial Trump-backed Gold Card visa program not only claimed to offer immigrants “residency in record time,” but promised up to $1 trillion toward reducing national debt.
However, during a heated congressional hearing, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has revealed that only one applicant has been approved so far.
“The process was recently resolved with DHS who runs the program, and they do a $15,000, the most serious vetting and analysis of any potential applicant in the history of the government. Usually it was $600. These pay $15,000 for an extraordinary vet,” Lutnick explained.
“So they have approved recently one person, and there are hundreds in the queue that are going through the process, but this is a new program, and they’ve just set it up, and they wanted to make sure they did it perfectly, and so we’ve worked through that,” he added.
“Sounds pretty rigorous if only one person has been OK'd for this,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray comments, shocked.
“I mean, no matter what you think of the program, that’s a failure, right?” he continues. “And I think the program would have been pretty good if we could have raised a trillion dollars.”
“Maybe it’s because DHS was closed and couldn’t do anything,” Jeff Fisher chimes in, adding, “But again, I’m OK with no one coming in.”
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'Staged armed robberies': 11 Indian nationals catch visa fraud charge amid conspiracy allegations
In a years-long case, more suspects are being charged in connection with an alleged visa fraud conspiracy ring.
On Friday, the Department of Justice charged 11 individuals in connection with "a conspiracy to carry out staged armed robberies of convenience stores for the purpose of allowing store clerks to falsely claim they were crime victims on immigration applications."
The DOJ claimed the purpose of the scheme was to allow the 'victims' of the 'robbery' to falsely claim they were victims of a violent crime on an application for a U visa.
Ten of the 11 suspects, all of whom are Indian nationals, were arrested in states where they were "unlawfully residing," including Massachusetts, Missouri, Kentucky, and Ohio, according to the DOJ's press release.
"An 11th Indian nat'l who was deported to India has also been charged," the Boston FBI announced on social media. The 11th Indian national was deported after "unlawfully residing" in Weymouth, Massachusetts.
According to the DOJ's press release, the scheme involved staging armed robberies in which the "robber" would threaten store clerks with an apparent firearm, take cash from the register, and flee. The clerk would then wait five minutes or more before calling police to report the incident.
The store owners were compensated by Rambhai Patel, sentenced in August for his role in the scheme, and his alleged co-conspirators, while the "victims" allegedly paid Patel to participate in the scheme.
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The fraud scheme appears to have begun in March 2023. Those charged on Friday are alleged to have "either arranged with the organizer to set up each robbery or paid for themselves or a family member to participate as a 'victim.'"
According to an August 2025 sentencing announcement from the DOJ, Patel and Balwinder Singh, who was also charged in December 2023, organized "at least 18" staged armed robberies.
Singh pleaded guilty and was set to be sentenced in September 2025.
Citing charging documents, the DOJ claimed the purpose of the scheme was to allow the "victims" of the "robbery" to falsely claim they were victims of a violent crime on an application for a U visa.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the U nonimmigrant status visa is "set aside for victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity."
Jitendrakumar Patel; Maheshkumar Patel; Sanjaykumar Patel; Amitabahen Patel; Sangitaben Patel; Mitul Patel; Rameshbhai Patel; Ronakkumar Patel; Sonal Patel; Minkesh Patel; and Dipikaben Patel all face one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud.
The charge of conspiracy to commit visa fraud carries a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.
Those charged on Friday were released after initial appearances and will appear in federal court in Boston "at a later date," the DOJ said.
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CBP leader arrested: Supervisor allegedly hid and supported illegal alien 'niece' for over a year
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was arrested and charged this week with allegedly harboring and transporting an illegal alien who prosecutors claim is his niece.
If convicted, Andres Wilkinson III — a CBP supervisory officer who has worked for the agency since May 2001 — faces up to a decade in prison and a potential $250,000 fine.
The CBP Office of Professional Responsibility received information from Homeland Security Investigations in April 2025 that Elva Edith Garcia-Vallejo, the daughter of a man whom Wilkinson listed as a brother in his 2023 background investigation, was allegedly living with the CBP officer at his residence in Laredo, Texas.
'Financially supported her by providing his credit cards, housing, and assistance with her financial obligations.'
Garcia-Vallejo's residency was problematic because she is a foreign national who lacks legal authorization to be in the homeland, which Wilkinson knew, federal prosecutors claimed.
According to the criminal complaint, Garcia-Vallejo entered the U.S. in August 2023 using her nonimmigrant visa number and secured a I-94 travel permit as a temporary visitor for pleasure/tourism to San Antonio — a permit that expired on Feb. 4, 2024.
North of the border, Garcia-Vallejo temporarily resided with her Laredo-based husband, Juan Rodriguez, who filed and then withdrew an immigration petition for her to become a legal resident.
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In May 2025 — eight months after Garcia-Vallejo's last known entry into the U.S. using her B1/B2 nonimmigrant visa number and two months after her travel permit expired — the CBP OPR allegedly spotted Garcia-Vallejo and her daughter meet with Wilkinson outside the Harmony School of Science in Laredo.
Investigators followed the mother — who had no pending immigration applications — and daughter back to their dwelling place. At the time, Garcia-Vallejo was driving a Toyota Rav4 registered to Wilkinson, the criminal complaint said.
Over the next several months, CBP OPR conducted surveillance at the residence and allegedly observed Garcia-Vallejo come and go. They also claimed to have spotted her driving another vehicle registered to Wilkinson.
Finally, on Feb. 5, CBP OPR detained Garcia-Vallejo, who allegedly admitted that she had been living with her "uncle" since at least August 2024; that he had "financially supported her by providing his credit cards, housing, and assistance with her financial obligations, including medical debt, and by adding her to his vehicle insurance," said the complaint.
The supposed niece also admitted to allegedly crossing U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints in a vehicle driven by Wilkinson on multiple occasions.
The criminal complaint refers to Wilkinson in one instance as his supposed niece's "boyfriend" and the DOJ noted in its corresponding release that the two were "romantically involved," but neither document offered supporting details for that characterization of their relationship. While the complaint indicates Garcia-Vallejo is the daughter of the officer's brother, it did not specify whether they are indeed blood relatives.
CBP did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News. Attorneys for Garcia-Vallejo and Wilkinson did not respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.
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‘American citizens need not apply’: US companies ILLEGALLY hiring ONLY visa workers
Americans are being rejected for jobs in their own country. It’s because they’re U.S. citizens.
“We have laws to protect people from discrimination, equal protection violations, in job postings. These companies are literally saying 'we are not going to hire United States citizens,'” Gonzales explains, horrified.
“We need a million citizen journalists to get this under control. It’s a big problem, and it needs to be stopped," she says, before pointing out a recent LinkedIn post that shows a position available for an "Azure cloud engineer” in Dallas, Texas.
In the posting, it also says “H-4-EAD Only.”
“And then it says, ‘Please share the resumes if you’re interested,’” Gonzales says, pointing out that the grammar is bad.
“Now, H-4s are dependent visas for spouses and unmarried children who are under 21. But for dependents or spouses of H-1Bs, H-2A,s and H-2Bs — H-3 as well, I believe — visa holders. So an H-1B can come in and they have strict work requirements, but they can come in with the H-4,” she says.
While the H-4 cannot initially work, the H-4 holder can apply for an employment authorization document.
“This is the whole scheme. You get in, you get to bring your whole family. You bring your whole family. You bring your children. Then your children need to be taught by another H-1B, and then that H-1B brings their family in, and then they bring their children,” Gonzales explains.
“It is just a reoccurring, never-ending cycle,” she says, pointing out that there are many more job postings that “very blatantly” state they will “only accept visa holders.”
“American citizens need not apply. I mean, did you ever think that you would be at a place in America — in the United States of America — where you would see job postings on one of the largest job websites in the entire world ... LinkedIn, where it literally says, ‘Oh, you’re a citizen of this country. You don’t need to apply. We don’t really care that we’re breaking the law,’” she continues.
“I never thought in a million years they would be doing this out in plain sight,” she says. “But here it is.”
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Texas first: Gov. Abbott freezes H-1B visas after damning report from BlazeTV's Sara Gonzales
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed all state agencies on Tuesday to "immediately freeze" new H-1B visa petitions, citing "recent reports of abuse in the federal H-1B visa program" and the "federal government's ongoing review of that program to ensure American jobs are going to American workers."
BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales, who exposed a rash of possible H-1B visa fraud in the Lone Star State earlier this month, welcomed the governor's directive.
'Bad actors have exploited this program by failing to make good-faith efforts to recruit qualified US workers before seeking to use foreign labor.'
Gonzales told Blaze News, "I am thrilled to hear our work exposing the abuse of the H-1B system is being taken seriously, and I commend Governor Abbott for taking necessary steps to protect American workers in the state of Texas from having their jobs stolen from them."
"I hope this is the first of many statewide actions that course correct on this issue," Gonzales added.
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At the outset of her investigation, Gonzales scrutinized a pair of companies that on paper appear to have relied in recent years on scores of foreign workers: 3Bees Technologies Inc. and Qubitz Tech Systems.
3Bees Technologies Inc. — whose agent, director, and president is Vamsi Krishna Vajinapally — had 27 H-1B beneficiaries approved in 2022 and 19 visa petitions apparently denied the following year. Qubitz Tech Systems had 12 H-1B beneficiaries approved last year.
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Gonzales' visits to the supposed offices of both companies — a vacant construction site in one case and a vacant, prison cell-size room with a single chair in the other — proved eye-opening, prompting her and others to question whether the companies and their visa sponsorships were above-board.
"Once you start scraping data from H-1B databases, you start seeing immediately all of these patterns," Gonzales said in her damning report. "The biggest question I have right now is: If we were able to find this with just a little bit of Google-searching and follow-up, why hasn't [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] done anything to combat this?"
When pressed for comment, Abbott's office referred Blaze News to his directive, which states:
Evidence suggests that bad actors have exploited this program by failing to make good-faith efforts to recruit qualified U.S. workers before seeking to use foreign labor. In the most egregious schemes, employers have even fired American workers and replaced them with H-1B employees, often at lower wages. Rather than serving its intended purpose of attracting the best and brightest individuals from around the world to our nation to fill truly specialized and unmet labor needs, the program has too often been used to fill jobs that otherwise could — and should — have been filled by Texans.
Per the governor's directive, state agencies are prohibited from initiating or filing any new petition to sponsor a non-immigrant worker under the federal H-1B visa program unless given express permission by the Texas Workforce Commission.
The governor has also given public universities and various state agencies until March 27 to provide an account of how many H-1B visa holders they are currently sponsoring; the countries of origin of their sponsored H-1B visa holders; the expected expiration date for each sponsored visa; and the efforts taken to ensure that Texan candidates were afforded a reasonable opportunity to apply for each position filled by an H-1B visa holder.
"State government must lead by example and ensure that employment opportunities — particularly those funded with taxpayer dollars — are filled by Texans first," Abbott wrote in his directive.
The H-1B visa program enables U.S.-based employers to temporarily hire foreign workers into specialized positions that American citizens supposedly can't do. H-1B specialty occupation workers are generally admitted for a period of up to three years, which can in most cases be extended for another three years.
While Republicans are taking action, lawmakers from both parties have in recent years expressed concerns about H-1B visa fraud and abuse, proposing amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act that would reform or even abolish the program.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' H-1B Employer Data Hub indicates that over 41,500 H-1B visa beneficiaries were approved for fiscal year 2025 in Texas. Oracle America Inc., Tesla Inc., AT&T Services Inc., Hewlett Packard, American Airlines, Texas A&M's flagship campus, and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center were among the top sponsors.
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'We will deport these thugs': Rubio's State Department revokes 100,000+ visas in 2025, putting Biden's numbers to shame
The Trump administration has intensified its efforts to enhance vetting of foreign nationals entering the U.S., resulting in a record number of visa revocations.
The Department of State announced that in 2025, it revoked over 100,000 foreign visas, including 8,000 student visas and 2,500 specialized worker visas. That figure is more than double the number of visas that were revoked in 2024 — 40,000 — under former President Joe Biden's leadership.
'The Trump administration will continue to put America first and protect our nation from foreign nationals who pose a risk to public safety or national security.'
Foreign nationals whose visas were canceled included those who had encounters with U.S. law enforcement for criminal activity, the State Department reported.
"We will continue to deport these thugs to keep America safe," the department stated.
The majority of those revoked by the State Department were for business and tourist travelers who overstayed their visas, Fox News Digital reported.
Some students and specialized workers who had their visas revoked also reportedly lost their legal status.
RELATED: Trump admin to vet all visa holders — revoke and deport threats to America
Half of the specialized workers whose visas were revoked had previously been arrested for drunk driving; 30% for assault, battery, or confinement charges; and 20% for theft, child abuse, substance abuse and distribution, and fraud and embezzlement charges.
A department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that nearly 500 students lost their visas for charges related to drug possession and distribution.
The State Department announced in August plans to review all of the more than 55 million current visa holders to uncover potential ineligibility, such as overstays, criminal activity, public safety threats, and ties to terrorism.
RELATED: Trump strips 4,000 student visas over first 100 days — 90% flagged for 'serious' crimes
"The Trump administration will continue to put America first and protect our nation from foreign nationals who pose a risk to public safety or national security," State Department principal deputy spokesperson Tommy Piggott told Fox News Digital.
During a press conference last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed the administration's increased efforts to revoke and deport foreign nationals.
"Who you allow to visit your country should reflect the national interest. We said that from the very beginning," Rubio told reporters.
"There are some times we'll deny people visas because of activities they've undertaken overseas," he continued. "Other times it's people that have visas but are in the United States doing things that run counter to our national interests. And the law gives us the right — and, in fact, I would argue, the obligation — to remove people like that from our country."
— (@)
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Tiny Caribbean island agrees to offload asylum seekers from US after Trump admin restricts visas
The small Caribbean island nation of Dominica has come to an agreement with the United States as the nation works to resolve some broader restrictions President Trump placed on it late last year.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit announced Monday that Dominica will begin accepting foreigners seeking asylum in the United States, the Associated Press reported.
'The prime minister still has not told the Dominican public what exactly he has agreed to.'
However, many details about the deal are still unknown, including the number of asylum seekers and whether Dominica has the capacity to absorb them, according to Thomson Fontaine, the leader of the country's main opposition party, the United Workers Party.
“The prime minister still has not told the Dominican public what exactly he has agreed to, in terms of the numbers of persons that are going to come to Dominica, where will they be housed, how will they be taken care of,” Fontaine told the AP.
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Dominica has a population of merely 72,000 people.
Skerrit did not provide details about the deal when asked by Fox News, but he did confirm that he has been in ongoing discussions with U.S. officials after the broader visa limitations were announced on December 16.
President Trump announced entry restrictions on several countries last month, including partial restrictions on Dominica. These visa restrictions went into effect on January 1.
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'A direct path to Citizenship': Trump announces official launch of Trump Gold Card visa program
The Trump administration has announced a brand-new visa package that is expected to help some of America's biggest companies keep their foreign talent.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced the launch of the Trump Gold Card, an expedited pathway to U.S. residence and even citizenship for a premium price.
'This landmark program fulfills President Trump's promise to attract the world's most successful entrepreneurs and investors to America while guaranteeing they have skin in the game.'
On Truth Social, Trump said, "THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT'S TRUMP GOLD CARD IS HERE TODAY! A direct path to Citizenship for all qualified and vetted people. SO EXCITING! Our Great American Companies can finally keep their invaluable Talent."
The program has multiple tiers. Individuals can pay a fee of $1 million to receive U.S. residency in "record time" as part of the Trump Gold Card.
The Trump Corporate Gold Card functions similarly but has a fee of $2 million that the company will pay.
The Trump Platinum Card, which the website says is "coming soon," costs $5 million and will allow foreigners to live in the United States for 270 days "without being subject to U.S. taxes on non-U.S. income."
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explained how companies can use this program: "The company can keep them here, and they have a path to citizenship. Obviously, they have to be perfect people in America. And having passed the vetting, after five years, they'll be available to become citizens, and then the corporation puts someone else on the card."
Lutnick added that the proceeds of this expensive program will function as a "gift to the United States."
All applications also require a $15,000 processing fee as part of the vetting process.
The Trump Gold Card functions as a lottery through EB-1 and EB-2 visas, which filter for extraordinary ability in various fields.
"This landmark program fulfills President Trump's promise to attract the world's most successful entrepreneurs and investors to America while guaranteeing they have skin in the game," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X in light of the announcement.
Trump ordered the creation of the Trump Gold Card program on the same day that he ordered the $100,000 fee for new H-1B visa applications, a popular move that addresses some of the abuses with the H-1B program without canceling it entirely.
The Gold Card office did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
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