Trump Honours Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Amid US H-1B Visa Crackdown
US President Donald Trump intended to honor tech billionaires like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Thursday, but he was overshadowed hours ahead of the event when Vice President JD Vance declared that the company was being suspended from a program that permits businesses to seek green cards for skilled foreign workers with H-1B visas.
The enforcement action against Microsoft fell under Vance's oversight as the leader of a fraud task force, but the focus highlighted the conflict between the businesses driving US economic expansion and the government's attempts to limit immigration, which it claims has negatively impacted American employees.
"Our message to Microsoft is: You are an excellent American company, but it's important to employ outstanding American workers," Vance states.
He stated that the company had exploited the visa system. "You can't terminate American employees and subsequently substitute them with foreign indentured laborers."
Vance mentioned that Microsoft terminated 6,000 US employees last year while also securing 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. The technology firm located in Redmond, Washington, employs 223,000 individuals globally. Microsoft has not responded to the accusations.
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Out of the six tech leaders scheduled to be honored by the president, five are foreign-born.
The president will present the National Medal of Science to SpaceX leader Elon Musk, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia chief Jensen Huang, and Lisa Su, CEO of the semiconductor firm Advanced Micro Devices.
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They were all born outside the United States – Musk in South Africa, Brin in Russia, and Huang and Su in Taiwan.
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Trump will also award the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Nadella and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, who has supported the government's special investment accounts for children referred to as Trump Accounts.