‘Never-ending flow of cheap labour’: JD Vance hits back at Indian-origin Congresswoman over US green card curbs for major tech companies

US Vice President JD Vance has defended the Trump administration's decision to suspend major technology companies from an employment-based green card programme, accusing critics of wanting to preserve a “never-ending flow of cheap labour”. The move has direct implications for Indian IT services firms and thousands of Indian professionals seeking permanent residency in the United States.

Vance made the remarks on Friday (Oct 08) in a X post while responding to Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, who criticised the administration's decision to suspend companies from the Permanent Labour Certification (PERM) programme, a key step in the employment-based green card process. “‘Socialism’ apparently means fighting like hell to ensure mega-corporations have a never-ending flow of cheap labour,” Vance wrote.

Jayapal, who sits on the House Immigration Subcommittee and previously held an H-1B visa, argued that the administration's actions were undermining legal immigration and threatening America's ability to innovate.

Jayapal warns against restricting legal immigration

Jayapal said the PERM programme provides a structured route for foreign workers seeking employment-based green cards while requiring employers to demonstrate that hiring them would benefit the US economy and not harm American workers. “The administration has been consistently working to take away legal pathways for immigrants to contribute their talents to our country, and this is yet another of those attacks,” she wrote on X.

She also argued that immigrants play an important role in the technology sector and other parts of the US economy. “You don’t fix a broken immigration system by taking a hammer to legal immigration,” she said, adding that targeting Microsoft or the PERM programme would weaken legal immigration and America's capacity to innovate.

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Indian IT giants among companies suspended

The dispute follows a major move by the US Labour Department, which suspended several large technology and IT outsourcing companies from the PERM programme amid multiple active federal investigations. The companies named included Indian IT services majors Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro and HCL, alongside France's Capgemini. US technology companies Microsoft and Adobe were also suspended.

US Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling said the companies had collectively sought millions of foreign workers and received hundreds of thousands of H-1B visa approvals and permanent labour certifications. “Since 2009, just these companies alone have requested almost 3 million foreign workers. They received over 230,000 H-1 B visa approvals and over 100,000 permanent labour certifications,” Sonderling said, arguing that the figures represented jobs taken from American workers.

Vance calls H-1B workers ‘indentured servants’

Vance had earlier criticised the use of H-1B visas while addressing a news conference on visa fraud, describing some foreign workers as “indentured servants”. He alleged that H-1B workers earned less than American citizens in comparable roles and claimed that foreign outsourcing firms used overseas recruitment to undercut US wages.

“If you are working as an H-1B visa in the United States of America, you’re earning $20,000 less than an American citizen hired in the same position,” Vance said. He claimed that workers brought in by foreign outsourcing firms earned $48,000 less than American workers in similar positions.

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What the move means for Indian professionals

The suspension places Indian technology companies and workers in the spotlight because Indian IT firms are major participants in the US market and many Indian professionals pursue employment-based permanent residency through employer-sponsored processes.

The PERM labour certification is generally an important stage in the employment-based green card process for eligible workers. A suspension can complicate or delay employers' ability to move forward through that route, depending on the scope and status of the action.

The development also comes amid broader scrutiny of foreign-worker pathways. A day before the announcement, the US Department of Homeland Security proposed new fees for F-1 international students seeking to participate in Optional Practical Training, saying the measure was intended to protect American workers and strengthen the integrity of the immigration system.