The Trump administration’s top civil rights official has a blunt message for Silicon Valley’s elite: You cannot discriminate against American workers.
Harmeet Dhillon, who serves as the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice, took to X on Thursday night to push back against the growing chorus of tech investors and executives who argue they should be free to hire foreign workers they deem “most qualified,” even if that means sidelining American graduates.
“This administration will not allow American employers to discriminate against American workers,” Dhillon posted. “It is illegal, wrong, and bad for our economy.”
Her comments came just days after Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham sparked controversy by insisting that employers have a right to hire foreigners they consider most qualified. The debate has been simmering for months, but it exploded into public view after a series of viral posts and clashes between pro-immigration tech barons and nationalist-leaning conservatives within the administration.
The immediate flashpoint was a now-viral tweet from Garry Tan, a Canadian immigrant and current head of Y Combinator, who rebuked one of his own deputies, Ankit Gupta, for describing most of America as “flyover country.” Gupta’s sneer came after he mocked Vice President JD Vance’s suggestion that the H-1B visa program be curbed, calling it “DEI for Americans.”
Gupta’s comments drew sharp rebukes, including from Federal Trade Commissioner Andrew Ferguson, and they reignited a fierce national debate over immigration policy and the treatment of American workers in the tech industry.
Dhillon’s post threw the weight of the Justice Department behind Vance’s position, and against the “Any Willing Worker” crowd on the West Coast.
In a lengthy thread, Dhillon laid out what she described as widespread abuses: companies failing to post jobs on normal hiring channels (PERM violations), foreign-born hiring managers funneling cheap labor from “body-shop mills” over American workers (H-1B abuses), lying about eligibility for no-cap H-1B hiring, abusing J-1 visas, and exploiting Optional Practical Training (OPT) to hire cheap, exploitable foreign labor.
“These are not good business practices; they are not patriotic economic practices; and they are illegal labor practices,” she wrote.
Dhillon also pointedly noted that her criticism was not aimed solely at Y Combinator or one individual. “This problem permeates American industry & academia, and it’s a bipartisan scandal. The biggest violators are our biggest public tech companies—I know, because I worked in Silicon Valley as a tech lawyer for decades.”
Her remarks put her firmly in the camp of those who argue that the massive H-1B program—which currently keeps roughly 1 million migrants and their spouses in jobs that many believe could be filled by American professionals—is being used to replace or sideline U.S. graduates.
Elon Musk, who has been a vocal supporter of the H-1B program, has aligned himself with Graham and other investors who insist they have a right to hire the “best” talent from anywhere in the world. But Musk’s support is not new—in December 2024, he declared his “total support” for the program in a social media post that was as profane as it was emphatic.
Dhillon’s post also touted ongoing H-1B investigations by the Department of Labor, signaling that the administration is moving from rhetoric to action.
Breitbart News has extensively covered the H-1B program’s problems, including kickback hiring, ethnic nepotism, credential fraud, costly featherbedding, anti-professional workplace culture, and citizen replacement.
The public’s growing recognition of these issues is forcing a national debate, despite furious opposition from business-backed lobbies. Trump’s deputies are now reportedly rolling out a cautious regulatory reform of the programs.
Meanwhile, Democrats appear to be largely ignoring the visa worker debate, even as some defend the use of legal and illegal migrants throughout the economy.
For now, Dhillon’s message is clear: The administration is watching, and it is prepared to act.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2026/08/28/trumps-civil-rights-chief-ceos-cannot-discriminate-against-citizens/