The Trump administration on Thursday announced it had suspended Microsoft from a key program used to sponsor employees for green cards. But hours later the same day, the CEO of the tech giant was honored by the same administration with one of the nation’s highest scientific awards.
According to ITNA citing Axios, the duality reflects a clear tension between the Trump administration’s support for tech giants and its immigration policies - policies that restrict an industry long reliant on hiring foreign skilled workers.
Industry leaders say hiring restrictions reduce America’s competitive edge, especially at a time when the country is competing with China over artificial intelligence.
Details of the sanction
In addition to Microsoft, the Trump action targeted Adobe and six IT services firms.
The subject of the sanction is the program known as PERM, or the permanent employment program, which is typically the first government approval step to sponsor employees - often H-1B visa holders who are foreign nationals - for employment-based green cards.
The government accused these companies of harming American workers by hiring foreign workers and paying them lower wages.
The U.S. Department of Labor said it will not accept any new PERM applications from these eight companies and will not process applications that were already in progress - a process that can take years for some employees.
Award given the same day
That evening, Donald Trump presented the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, at the White House’s “New Golden Age Summit.”
Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, Sergey Brin, a Google co-founder, and Lisa Su, CEO of AMD - all immigrants to the U.S. like Nadella - received the National Medal of Science.
At the event, Trump referred to the honorees as “national treasures.”
Earlier that day, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance addressed the apparent contradiction at a press briefing, saying the administration’s aim is not to harm Microsoft but to have the company grow by hiring and empowering American citizens.
He said Microsoft had laid off six thousand American workers and replaced them with 6,300 H-1B visa holders. Vance did not give a specific end date for the suspension, saying it will remain in place as long as necessary.
Microsoft’s response
In a statement Thursday, Microsoft said 80 percent of the applications it filed in the last fiscal year were for extensions or status changes of current employees, not for hiring new workers. The company also claimed it pays some of the highest wage levels in the tech industry to its employees, but it did not directly respond to the PERM program issue.
Legal outlook
Immigration lawyers say the move could make companies more cautious about sponsoring employees for visas and permanent residency and could discourage skilled workers and foreign students from migrating to the U.S.
Patricia Gannon, head of immigration and nationality at the GreenSpoon Marder law firm, described PERM as one of the main pathways to a green card in the U.S. Hiba Anwar, an attorney at Ericsson Immigration Group, warned the move could heighten concerns about the shrinking pool of skilled workers in America.