Texas Governor Halts H-1B Hiring at State Colleges, Agencies (3)

Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered state agencies and public universities to immediately freeze new H-1B visa petitions, curtailing a program that has also been overhauled by President Donald Trump.

Abbott said the visa program — which is widely used by public universities to hire skilled foreign employees — has been used in ways that disadvantage American workers. The halt, which doesn’t affect private-sector companies, will last through May 31, 2027, the end of the state’s next legislative session.

Greg Abbott

Photographer: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

“State government must lead by example and ensure that employment opportunities, particularly those funded with taxpayer dollars, are filled by Texans first,” Abbott, a Republican, said in a letterTuesday to agency heads.

The governor issued his order four months after Trump signed a proclamation imposing a new $100,000 fee on H-1B applications and prioritizing higher-paid applicants, revamping a program that’s widely used by technology companies. Business groups have warned the changes could make it harder for big US employers to recruit global talent and compete internationally.

Read More: Trump’s $100,000 H-1B Fee Fuels Stress for Staff, Employers

Among the top 25 Texas employers of people with H-1B visas approved in the latest fiscal year, state entities including universities only accounted for about 5% of the total, according to a federal website that tracks the data. Most went to employees of private-sector companies from Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. to Oracle Corp. and Tesla Inc.

In the state’s public sector, major users of the visas include the University of Texas and Texas A&M University. At particular risk are medical research facilities including UT Southwestern Medical Center and MD Anderson Cancer Center, which together employ hundreds of H-1B visa holders. The universities and medical centers didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

While Abbott’s directive is in force, state agencies led by gubernatorial appointees and public higher-education institutions are barred from sponsoring new H-1B workers without approval from state labor regulators.

By late March of this year, agencies must also submit detailed reports identifying how many H-1B workers they employ, along with the job categories, countries of origin, visa expiration dates and any evidence showing efforts to recruit Texas candidates.

Read More: Why Trump Is Charging a $100,000 Fee for H-1B Visas

“The prevailing sentiment among many Republicans is that H-1B visas take jobs from some American workers and depress wages for others,” said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University in Houston. “Since Governor Abbott can’t force Texas private companies to stop using the H-1B visa program, this is a way for him to signal to Republicans in Texas he is doing everything in his power to fight H-1B visa abuse.”

Florida Proposal

Immigration policy is set at the federal level, but states can decide whether their own agencies and publicly funded institutions employ foreign workers.

Texas isn’t the only state scrutinizing the H-1B program. In Florida, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is pushingto restrict H-1B visas for professors at state universities, alleging they’re used to import “cheap foreign labor.”

The Florida Board of Governors, which oversees state universities, is scheduled to vote this week on a proposal to ban hiring faculty with H-1B visas for one year, the Orlando Sentinel reported. If approved, the proposal would come up for a final vote after two weeks of public comment.

The Texas action comes as the Trump administration has aggressively tightened immigration across nearly every channel. The White House has expanded border enforcement, sharply restricted humanitarian pathways such as asylum and parole, and increased scrutiny of employment-based visas, including for highly-skilled workers like those on the H-1B program.

University Staffing

Universities are among those facing the consequences of the H-1B crackdown.

Colleges across the US — from the Ivy League to large public institutions — apply for thousands of H-1B visas each year to staff laboratories, engineering programs and medical research centers. About 58% of postdoctoral researchers in science, engineering and health fields were working on temporary visas such as the H-1B as of 2023, according to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics.

Abbott said that Texas has invested billions of dollars in recent years to expand education and workforce training and should not rely on foreign labor for positions that could be handled locally. “We will not cede this distinction,” he wrote, describing the Texas workforce as among the most “proficient” in the nation.

The metropolitan area of College Station, Texas — the home of Texas A&M — received roughly seven H-1B visa approvals per 100 workers, the highest concentration in the country, according to a report from Pew Research Center.

--With assistance from Alicia A. Caldwell, Claire Ballentine, Julie Fine and Michael Smith.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Joe Lovinger in Dallas at jlovinger@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Julie Fine at jfine44@bloomberg.net

Sarah McGregor, Brendan Case

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