Show-Me State Times

U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) has sent a letter to Joseph Edlow, the Administrator of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), expressing concern about the use of H-1B visas for hiring in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) positions. In his letter, Schmitt stated that he had reviewed several cases where U.S. employers used the H-1B program to fill DEI roles, which he argued falls outside the intended scope of “specialty occupations” defined by law.

Schmitt wrote: “I write to raise serious concerns about a disturbing trend: The use of H-1B visas to staff the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) regime.

I have reviewed repeated examples of U.S. employers using the H-1B program to fill DEI positions. These positions are plainly ideological and non-technical in nature, and appear to fall outside the ‘specialty occupation’ intent of the H-1B statute.[1] More to the point, in light of everything we know about DEI, it is alarming that both private companies and public institutions alike appear to be using foreign workers to work in these roles — placing non-Americans in positions where they are tasked with policing the speech and thought of our own citizens.

Documents I reviewed show that a wide range of institutions have filed H-1B Labor Condition Applications (LCAs) for explicit DEI roles—many of which appear to have been certified by the Department of Labor. Carnegie Mellon University, for example, filed a LCA for the position of ‘Associate Dean of Diversity, Inclusion, Climate & Equity’ in 2021.[2] Yale New Haven Health filed numerous LCAs for ‘Diversity and Inclusion Specialists’ in 2020 and 2021.[3] Dartmouth College filed for a position titled ‘Program Manager, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion’ in 2023.[4]

These are just a few of many examples. Employers who appear to have been using the H-1B visa in this manner range from large banks and law firms to universities, healthcare systems, and even municipal park districts. Many of these are taxpayer-funded institutions. Especially for our public institutions such as universities, the thousands of dollars in legal and administrative costs for H-1B’s could go towards cutting edge research or scholarships for U.S. citizens.

The H-1B visa program’s purpose was to address bona fide specialty occupation shortages — chiefly in technical disciplines — not to undercut American workers or import ideological bureaucrats to surveil our workplaces. The fact that the program is being used to hire DEI functionaries from abroad is further evidence of how far it has drifted from its original stated mission. Rather than recruiting genuinely exceptional top-level talent, the H-1B visa is now regularly used to hire and staff middle management bureaucracies. We have seen the same pattern in other low-skill or non-specialty occupations: project managers, communications staff, HR generalists, marketing coordinators, customer service representatives, and so on.

Furthermore, the documents I have only capture positions with explicit keywords like ‘Diversity,’ ‘Equity,’ and ‘Inclusion’ in the title. A much larger swathe of DEI or DEI-adjacent roles could exist under more innocuous titles: ‘HR Administrator’, ‘Wellness Coordinator’, etc. As you know, an LCA establishes an employer’s intent to fill a position through the H-1B program but does not by itself prove that the H-1B has been approved by USCIS. Many of the records I reviewed were certified, but I still have limited knowledge regarding exactly how many H-1B visas have been issued for these roles.

In keeping with your administration’s strong commitment to America First reforms, I respectfully request the following:

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter — and for your continued service to President Trump’s America First agenda. My staff stands ready to work with USCIS on any technical details necessary to implement these steps promptly and with minimal operational burden.”

According to data cited by Schmitt from sources such as VISAPal's salary database as well as Freedom Of Information Act disclosures from the U.S. Department of Labor, several major organizations—including Carnegie Mellon University (for an Associate Dean role focused on diversity), Yale New Haven Health (for multiple specialist positions), and Dartmouth College—have submitted labor condition applications related specifically to DEI jobs over recent years.

Schmitt requested that USCIS collaborate with the Department of Labor on reviewing how widespread this practice is within public institutions such as universities or healthcare systems—many funded by taxpayers—and issue guidance aimed at preventing what he described as abuse within current regulations.

A full copy of Senator Schmitt's letter can be accessed online.