(NewsNation) — As the debate over H-1B visas grows in the United States, Gov. Ron DeSantis has called for Florida universities to “pull the plug” on their use.
DeSantis argued the visas, which are meant to help companies bring high-skilled workers to the U.S., are being abused. He says some Florida universities are using H-1B visas to hire for positions such as athletic department graphic designers and an assistant swim coach.
“Why aren’t we producing math and engineering folks who can do this? We’ve got hundreds of thousands of people in our state university system,” DeSantis said. “I don’t understand. How is that specialized knowledge that only someone from these places can do a $40,000 job working as an assistant at the athletic department? That’s an abuse of this whole idea.”
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About 400 H-1B visa applications have been approved for the state system’s 12 universities this year through June, according to the New York Times.
Approximately 700,000 people currently hold H-1B visas in the U.S., according to an analysis from the National Foundation for American Policy.
Amazon employs the most people this way, according to the Associated Press, and more than 14,000 of its workers are in the U.S. temporarily on H-1B visas.
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Florida’s crackdown echoes the Trump administration’s tightening of the program.
In September, the White House raised the fee employers pay for H-1B applications to $100,000 in an effort to curb overuse.
The fee is a massive jump from previous costs of $2,000 to $5,000 per petition, according to the American Immigration Council.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is suing the Trump administration over the increased application fee, claiming it would hurt U.S. businesses by making them less competitive, leading to fewer jobs for Americans.
