H-1B for DEI? US Senator Eric Schmitt says outrageous if true, shoots off letter to USCIS

Senator Eric Schmitt writes to USCIS to investigate if H-1Bs have been hired to fill DEI positions.

Amid the ongoing row over H-1B, Senator Eric Schmitt said he came across numerous examples of hospitals, universities and other employers hiring foreign H-1B workers as DEI staffing. Diversity, equity and inclusion of US companies ensure increased representation of underrepresented groups, while H-1B is an employment program based on skill. But Schmitt alleged that companies have been using the H-1B pool to fill DEI positions. As the Senator wrote to the USCIS to look into the matter, he cited examples of Yale New Haven Health which filed LCA for H-1B visas for the role of a DEI specialist in 2021. “Examples range from large banks and law firms to universities, healthcare systems, and even municipal park districts. Obviously, DEI positions are plainly non-technical and ideological in nature, and appear to fall outside the “speciality occupation” intent of the H-1B statute,” the Senator wrote. “More to the point, in light of everything we know about DEI, it’s alarming that American employers appear to be importing foreign workers to work in these roles — placing non-Americans in positions where they are tasked with policing the speech and thought of our own citizens.” DEI is a toxic and anti-American institution, Schmitt said, adding that DEI’s marriage with H-1B is “beyond the pale”. “Rather than recruiting genuinely exceptional top-level talent, in many cases the H-1B visa is now regularly used to staff middle management bureaucracies. Rather than 160+ IQ rocket scientists, it’s being used to import HR managers, customer service representatives, and so on.”

$100,000 H-1B visa fee

The Donald Trump administration, since the beginning, vowed to overhaul the H-1B program that allows tech companies to hire STEM graduates from other countries. Over the years, the program earned a bad name of stealing US jobs as hiring foreigners, notwithstanding their skill, became cheaper. The Trump administration hiked the fee to $100,000 which the tech companies will have to pay for hiring H-1Bs.