\n<\/p>\n
Florida governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday ordered the state\u2019s public universities \u201cto pull the plug on the use of these H-1B visas in our universities.\u201d In doing so, the Republican appeared to call for his state to go further than President Trump in restricting entry of these foreign employees\u2014an issue that has divided prominent conservatives. <\/p>\n
Since fiscal year 2022, Florida public universities have employed nearly 2,000 people via the H-1B program\u2014nearly half at the University of Florida. The program is capped at 85,000 new visas a year, but colleges, universities and some other organizations aren\u2019t subject to that cap. In the first three quarters of 2025, nearly 16,800 visas were approved for employees at colleges and universities; 395 of the visas were for jobs at Florida\u2019s public universities. Universities use the program to hire faculty, doctors and researchers and argue it\u2019s required to meet needs in health care, engineering and other areas. <\/p>\n
Last month, Trump announced a $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says the fee will apply to new H-1B petitions filed on or after Sept.\u00a021 and must be paid before the petition is filed. It said there could be exceptions from the fee in an \u201cextraordinarily rare circumstance\u201d in which the Homeland Security secretary determines a foreigner\u2019s presence in the U.S. \u201cis in the national interest.\u201d <\/p>\n
Lawsuits have been filed over the fee, and higher ed associations and institutions have spoken out in opposition. The Trump administration says employers are abusing the program to avoid hiring Americans. <\/p>\n
In a speech at the University of South Florida on Wednesday, DeSantis called on the state board governing public universities to \u201cpull the plug\u201d on H-1B visa employees. He didn\u2019t mention any exceptions. <\/p>\n
If this the ban happens, it would be another example of a red state going further than the Republican-controlled federal government in restricting public higher ed institutions. In states such as Texas and Ohio, GOP politicians have exceeded Trump in regulating curricula and restricting faculty rights. Before Trump retook office, DeSantis put Florida on the leading edge of the conservative overhaul of higher ed, from cracking down on what he called \u201cwoke\u201d education to putting allies in charge of universities\u2014a playbook other states have followed. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear, however, whether the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state’s public universities but not it’s public colleges, will follow DeSantis\u2019s directive. Fourteen of the board\u2019s 17 members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s also unclear what his directive specifically means; a news release the governor\u2019s office issued Wednesday didn\u2019t, unlike his speech, go as far as suggesting an end to all H-1B visa employees at public universities. <\/p>\n
But neither the State University System of Florida nor the governor\u2019s office provided more details in response to Inside Higher Ed<\/em>\u2019s questions about DeSantis\u2019s intent. A news release from the governor\u2019s office said DeSantis directed the board to \u201ccrack down on H-1B Visa abuse in higher education\u201d but didn\u2019t repeat the governor\u2019s apparent call to end H-1B employment completely. <\/p>\n University of Florida interim president Donald Landry spoke at the press conference after DeSantis and mentioned his institution was called out.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a complex issue, and we can chat,\u201d Landry said, to laughs from the audience. He did list one benefit, saying H-1Bs are mainly used at UF to hire new faculty from the international student population.<\/p>\n \u201cOccasionally, some bright light might be good enough for the faculty, and then we will try and retain the person into whom we have invested so much,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n UF is conducting its own review of the H-1B program, he added. \u201cWe know that H-1B is not handled in a pristine fashion, even in academia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Robert Cassanello, president of the United Faculty of Florida union and a tenured associate history professor at the University of Central Florida, suggested that banning H-1B visa holders would be illegal. <\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t discriminate against someone based on foreign birth,\u201d Cassanello said. \u201cMy big question coming away from this is: Where\u2019s the authority?\u201d<\/p>\n In his speech, DeSantis started his criticism of the H-1B program from a national perspective. He said, \u201cTech companies will fire Americans and hire H-1B at a discount, and they\u2019re basically indentured servants\u00a0\u2026 They\u2019re indentured to the company, so the company can basically pay them low.\u201d <\/p>\n He then turned to Florida universities, appearing to read from a list of positions occupied by H-1B holders at unnamed institutions. (His office didn\u2019t provide the list Wednesday.) <\/p>\n After mentioning a public policy professor from China, DeSantis said, \u201cWhy do we need to bring someone from China to talk about public policy?\u201d Later\u2014apparently looking at information on another H-1B holder\u2014he exclaimed, \u201cWuhan, China!\u201d <\/p>\n Although DeSantis\u2019s complaints focused on supposed international scholars from China, he didn\u2019t spare those from other countries. <\/p>\n \u201cAssistant swim coach from Spain, on an H-1B visa\u2014are you kidding me, we can\u2019t produce an assistant swim coach in this country?\u201d he said. He then turned to the Middle East.<\/p>\n \u201cClinical assistant professor from the West Bank, clinical assistant professor from supposed Palestine,\u201d he said. \u201cIs that just social justice that they\u2019re doing? And that\u2019s University of Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to make sure our citizens here in Florida are first in line for job opportunities,\u201d DeSantis said. But he also suggested he doesn\u2019t fully know why universities are hiring H-1B workers. <\/p>\n \u201cI guess there\u2019s probably reasons why it ends up being this way,\u201d DeSantis said. \u201cBut I think it\u2019s a poor reflection on some of the decisions that some of these universities have made that they\u2019re trying to say they need an H-1B visa to do some of these jobs\u00a0\u2026 We can do it with our residents in Florida, or with Americans, and if we can\u2019t do it then\u2014man\u2014we need to really look deeply about what is going on.\u201d <\/p>\n Sarah Spreitzer, vice president and chief of staff for government relations at the American Council on Education, said DeSantis\u2019s move would limit universities\u2019 ability to hire the best researchers. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to have an enormous impact, obviously, on Florida institutions,\u201d Spreitzer said. <\/p>\n Cassanello, who said his union includes some H-1B holders, called DeSantis\u2019s speech a \u201cxenophobic and nativist diatribe.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a nativist, he\u2019s anti-immigrant and so he\u2019s coming to these decisions based on no facts,\u201d Cassanello said. He also said DeSantis opposed diversity, equity and inclusion programs by arguing they were anti-meritocratic, but now, \u201call of a sudden, he\u2019s willing to throw out meritocracy.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s using fear of people of color and fear of immigrants to sort of impose his will on the running of our public colleges and universities,\u201d Cassanello said. He said the speech represents \u201ca further attack from DeSantis and our state political leaders on the autonomy of our public colleges and universities.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Florida governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday ordered the state\u2019s public universities \u201cto pull the plug on the use of these H-1B visas in our universities.\u201d In doing so, the Republican appeared to call for his state to go further than President Trump in restricting entry of these foreign employees\u2014an issue that has divided prominent conservatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[9232,10038,2838,1438],"class_list":{"0":"post-31422","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-h1b","9":"tag-plug","10":"tag-pull","11":"tag-workers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u2018Do It\u2019 With Florida Residents<\/h2>\n