Vance targets H1-B visas as anti-fraud tour visits battleground Wisconsin

Vice President Vance made a stop in Milwaukee on Wednesday to tout the administration’s crackdown on fraud, announcing that the Labor Department has launched investigations into foreigners involved in the H-1B visa program.

H-1B visas are employer-sponsored, nonimmigrant visas that allow U.S. companies to hire foreign workers with specialty skills.

“Here’s a simple principle, ladies and gentlemen: American jobs ought to go to American workers and not foreign fraudsters, and the Department of Labor is fighting back against it,” Vance said while speaking at the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 128th Air Refueling Wing.

He said the department has sought dozens of subpoenas and launched multiple investigations.

“Big corporations and fraudsters overseas are using this program to undercut the wages of American workers,” he said. “If you are trying to take advantage of that visa program, you are not allowed into the United States.”

Throughout the speech, Vance touted the “billions and billions of dollars” he said the Trump administration has saved “that was going to fraudsters.”

He framed the crackdown on fraud as an important midterm issue in the battleground state, accusing Democrats of looking the other way.

“Not a single congressional Democrat stood up and said we are going to fight back against fraud, and that’s the problem with modern congressional Democrats,” he said.

He quipped that his grandparents were “blue-collar Democrats” but wouldn’t “recognize” the Democratic party of today.

“They would not recognize a party that tries to send your money to illegal aliens instead of our hardworking seniors who earned those benefits and ought to have access to them,” he said.

“They would not recognize a party that raises your taxes so that we can give more money to the fraudsters, and they would not recognize a party that rewards the fraudsters rather than sending them to prison.”

Vance did not offer any specific evidence for his claims, which continue a trope he has pushed hard as President Trump’s “anti-fraud czar,” a position created in the wake of high-profile efforts targeting Somali communities in Minnesota.

Vance praised Wisconsin GOP Reps. Bryan Steil, Derrick Van Orden, Tony Wied, Glenn Grothman and Tom Tiffany.

He said Tiffany, who is vying to be governor of Wisconsin, “takes fraud as seriously” as Trump.

“This is not a normal election because we’re not running against people who maybe have different ideas about tax policy or regulatory policy,” Vance said.

Trump won in Wisconsin in 2016 and 2024. Democrats are hoping for a trifecta win in the midterms, flipping seats in the state Legislature and U.S. House seats, along with retaining the governor’s office.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.