New Focus: H-1B and Visa Overstays in the Crosshairs
A major shift in policy is coming for U.S. visa holders. While Trump indicated some leniency for immigrant farm and hospitality workers—at least those without a criminal record—he has made no such promises for visa violators. In fact, he has ramped up public rhetoric and enforcement targeting those who overstay or abuse programs like H-1B, especially from countries considered “adversarial.”
In a recent executive order, Trump referenced ongoing concerns that America’s visa program is being used by hostile nations to plant spies and thieves of national and proprietary secrets, and specifically cited the risk of foreign nationals in advanced industries, such as artificial intelligence and national security projects, potentially stealing sensitive, patented, or protected AI secrets.
This comes as the U.S. launches the StarGate Project in Texas—a major AI initiative with high-level security implications. Sources familiar with the project say there are already new screening protocols for foreign-born talent at leading AI companies, including those involved in the Stargate Program.
“Given the legal exposure from vicarious and direct liability, employers are now looking for specific preventative measures and internal controls that most effectively mitigate risks to their companies from being held liable for trade secret theft committed by their employees – particularly for those employees working under visas in the A.I sector,” notes one senior legal analyst at a Silicon Valley law firm.
Recent waves of layoffs across Silicon Valley—at a time when AI and high-skill construction projects are booming—have only heightened anxiety. Data centers, energy hubs, and next-generation AI facilities require specialized labor, both technical and blue-collar, much of it supplied by immigrants and visa holders. According to a 2021 survey, nearly a quarter of all construction workers lack legal status, and up to half of meatpacking workers are in the same boat.
Major companies like DoorDash have already warned investors that aggressive immigration enforcement could threaten workforce stability:
“Increased enforcement efforts with respect to existing immigration laws by governmental authorities may disrupt a portion of our workforce or our operations,” DoorDash disclosed in a recent SEC filing.
The Trump administration’s previous worksite crackdowns set records: In 2018, ICE conducted a two-step audit that led to an $80 million civil settlement with Asplundh Tree Experts—one of the largest immigration enforcement actions in U.S. history.
Now, Homan says, “the crackdown is just as much about catching illegal immigrants as it is about catching—and prosecuting—businesses who have violated the law by hiring them.”
