US Congressman Riley M Moore (West Virginia) weighed in on the H-1B visa debate currently taking over the US political landscape. Stepping out for a guest appearance on ‘The Will Cain Show’ this week, he spoke out against the ‘specialty occupations’ nonimmigrant classification responsible for bringing in highly skilled workers from across the world.
Republican Congressman says ‘H-1B visa is a disaster’
“We don’t just need to crack down on illegal immigration, we also need to rein in legal immigration,” he wrote on his official X account, as he shared a video of his Fox News outing. Calling the H-1B visa program a “disaster,” he blamed the category for driving down wages, thereby replacing “American workers with foreigners.” The Republican politician also held the visa program responsible for leaving “American college graduates with few prospects.”
A disgruntled Moore was more than eager to voice out his issues with H-1B. “It’s not just blue-collar jobs, it’s also the white-collar jobs that are affected by the H-1B visas,” he told the Fox News host. “We send out kids off to college – go be an accountant, any of these types of jobs that are so important to the economy, and then turn around, and these companies go apply for H-1B visas and bring somebody from India.”
He slammed the visa category for impact American workers to a great extent despite it happening on a legal foundation. Moore’s understanding of the visa’s impact on US workers aligns with numerous other takes raised by countless US representatives. Senator Eric Schmitt (Missouri) is yet another person who echoes the same sentiment.
We don’t just need to crack down on illegal immigration, we also need to rein in legal immigration.
The H-1B visa program is a disaster.
It drives down wages, replaces American workers with foreigners, and leaves American college graduates with few prospects.
More of my… https://t.co/qdZ4WMfvSX pic.twitter.com/MOvLKBeyzZ— Rep. Riley M. Moore (@RepRileyMoore) October 8, 2025
While at the National Conservatism Conference (NatCon 2025) in Washington, DC, in early September, the Republican politician argued about who the country “belongs to.” Noting that the visa was sold “was a way to keep America ‘competitive,’ but it was now instead importing “millions of foreign nationals to relace America workers,” in addition to transferring “entire industries into the lands of foreign lobbies.”
Much like his fellow Republican Congressman Riley Moore, Schmitt also unloaded a severe tirade on how “legal” immigration was a big accomplice to it all. “At this point it should be clear that the fact that something is sanctioned by our government doesn’t mean it’s good for our country,” he said last month, adding, “‘Legal’ immigration can harm Americans too.”
Similarly, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has repeatedly called out the visa type, labelling it a “total scam.”
American workers against H-1B visas
According to the findings of a survey conducted by Blind, 56% of American citizens think H-1B visa-holders are stealing their jobs. A Microsoft employee anonymously targeted H-1B on the platform, saying, “The H-1B and other visa programs are out of control, and have become a way for the US to hand its best jobs to foreigners. We have enough SWE graduates in the U.S. now that these programs can and should be scaled back SIGNIFICANTLY.”
Consequently, the US government has already initiated a slew of actions and directives that are expected to take a major toll on the H-1B side of things. President Donald Trump recently signed a proclamation introducing an addition $100,000 blanket fee on new H-1B applications.
Moreover, the US Department of Labor announced the launch of ‘Project Firewall’ on September 19, 2025. According to the official US govt website, it is “an H-1B enforcement initiative that will safeguard the rights, wages, and job opportunities of highly skilled American workers by ensuring employers prioritise qualified Americans when hiring workers and holding employers accountable if they abuse the H-1B visa process.”
