The White House issued a new proclamation this week restricting the entry of certain non-immigrant workers, specifically targeting the H-1B visa program. For years, Americans have demanded action against a system that displaces U.S. workers, suppresses wages and allows corporations to exploit loopholes in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). This order marks a turning point: Washington has finally admitted that the program has been abused. But while the changes deserve recognition, the real question remains, what about the millions of Americans already harmed?

Why the change was needed

The fact is the H-1B program was designed to bring in “specialty occupation” workers when no American could be found, but was hijacked by outsourcing firms and multinational corporations. Instead of filling unique gaps, companies used the visa to flood the labor market with cheaper foreign workers. Americans were forced to train their replacements, laid off in mass numbers and watched as their jobs were shipped overseas.

Reports cited by the administration show how foreign STEM labor growth far outpaced actual job growth, proving that the demand was manufactured. Worse still, these temporary visas were often converted into green cards and ultimately U.S. citizenship, locking in the displacement for generations and directly contradicting the spirit of the INA, which was never intended to legalize such wholesale substitution of foreign labor for American workers.

What the proclamation does

The proclamation imposes a new requirement that employers filing H-1B petitions from outside the United States must now pay a $100,000 “supplemental payment.” Without it, applications will be restricted for 12 months. Exceptions exist if the Department of Homeland Security determines it is in the national interest or vital for security, but for the first time, the government is attaching a steep cost to a system long rigged against Americans.

The Department of Labor has also been ordered to revise prevailing wage rules, a step meant to stop employers from paying below-market salaries. Together, these measures send a message that the days of cheap, mass H-1B hiring may be numbered.

What is still missing

As welcome as these steps are, the proclamation leaves glaring holes. Millions of foreign workers are already here, many having secured green cards and even citizenship through the very system now deemed abusive. They remain in the workforce, continuing to depress wages and block opportunities for Americans.

Where is the justice for U.S. workers who were fired, forced out, or denied opportunities because corporations gamed the visa system? Where is the back pay for the years of wages lost? Where is the retribution for the economic harm, the destruction of careers and the violation of the INA’s intent?

Unless these questions are answered, Americans will continue to suffer. Closing the front door is progress, but leaving the back door wide open for those already here only entrenches the damage.

The path forward

This proclamation is proof that when Americans raise their voices, they can be heard. It acknowledges what workers have known all along: The H-1B program has been abused, and its abuse has hurt this country. But partial reforms will not restore fairness. Real justice means accountability for corporations that exploited loopholes, immigration lawyers who facilitated fraud and policymakers who helped write Americans out of their own job market.

We can be thankful that this administration has finally called out the abuse so many Americans have endured. By taking this stand, they have proven they are willing to listen and act where others ignored the problem. The hope now is that this same bold leadership will carry forward into the next steps: revoking fraudulent visas, deporting those who gamed the system, indicting bad actors and securing restitution and clawbacks for harmed U.S. workers.

No administration has ever gone this far in exposing the failures of the visa system and if these next steps are embraced, it could set a historic precedent of true justice for American workers. The fight is not over, but with this momentum, it can finally be won.

‘Crackdown’: President Trump plans bombshell for H-1B visa program

Amanda Bartolotta

Amanda Bartolotta is a senior investigative journalist at WND specializing in systemic immigration fraud, visa abuse and the corporate-government networks responsible for the displacement of American workers. Her work exposes the immigration industrial complex and its role in eroding U.S. labor protections, suppressing wages, and threatening the long-term sovereignty and economic security of the United States. Read more of Amanda Bartolotta's articles here.