Trump admin suspends green cards to Microsoft as Vance accuses the company of replacing laid-off workers with ‘foreign indentured servants’

Vice President JD Vance announced Thursday that the Trump administration is suspending Microsoft and several other companies from a program allowing foreign workers to apply for green cards. The move comes as the administration targets employers and universities that bring international students and workers into the country, arguing they undermine American students and workers.

Vance criticized Microsoft, accusing the company of replacing laid-off American workers with "foreign indentured servants." The H-1B visa program, which Microsoft is affected by, requires companies to advertise jobs in America before applying for green cards, but Vance alleges Microsoft has exploited this system more than any other.

Microsoft, the fifth-largest user of H-1B visas, defended its use of the program, stating that 80% of its applications were to extend or change the status of existing employees, not to hire new people. The company claimed the remaining filings were for individuals already in the U.S., equaling only 1% of its U.S. workforce. The administration's decision follows Vance's claim that Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers last year but obtained 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards, resulting in one and a half foreign workers replacing each laid-off American.

Critics, including a former senior adviser at USCIS, argue that blocking companies from helping their H-1B workers obtain green cards undermines the program's purpose.