Vance says 9 universities will be investigated over foreign visas

Vice President Vance announced a probe Thursday into multiple colleges over their use of the J-1 visa program that allows foreign students and researchers to come study or work in the U.S.

“Elite universities bring in foreigners to undercut the wages of American residents,” Vance said at a press conference regarding fraud and abuse in work visa programs. “There are nine universities in particular we believe merit an investigation.”

The vice president specifically called out Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University, Brown University, the University of Pittsburgh, Arizona State University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the California Institute of Technology and the University of California, Davis.

“What we see is when you employ an American worker as a graduate student as a researcher, they are making about $20,000 more than someone brought in under a J-1 visa and, importantly, these universities are employing J-1 visas for federally funded grants at a rate of 61 percent,” Vance said.

“The national average is 38 percent, so something weird is going on at these universities. They are using these visas way too much. They are using them to undercut the wages of American grad students and American researchers, and it simply has to stop,” he added.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for further details.

Inspector General at the Labor Department Anthony D’Esposito said at the same press conference that “subpoenas have been served” and “investigations are underway.”

Brown University confirmed it received the subpoena and said its “international scholars, students and employees make essential contributions on our campus, including to teaching and research that advances American innovation, competitiveness and economic vitality.”

Stanford told The Hill it “complies with all applicable visa laws” and “will cooperate with the investigation.”

“As one of the largest research universities in the United States, Arizona State University educates more stem majors than any other university and employs one of the largest technical and scientific workforces in the country,” a spokesperson for Arizona State University said. “This benefits both the Arizona and the United States economies and in doing so, ASU has hired the talent needed to perform these functions and done so in complete compliance with existing United States policy and law.”

The Hill has reached out to the six other schools for comment.

“If an American university is breaking the law to save a dollar while exposing American research to a foreign adversary that is not academic excellence it is institutional betrayal,” D’Esposito said, referring to concerns of China’s influence in American universities.

The investigation is the latest in a long list of Trump administration moves against U.S. colleges and particularly their foreign students.