Vice President JD Vance accuses Arizona State, 8 other universities of visa abuse

The Trump administration on Thursday accused Arizona State University and eight other universities of potential visa abuse at the expense of American graduate students and researchers.

Vice President JD Vance said ASU was among nine universities that should be investigated for their use of J-1 visas, which give international visitors permission to enter the U.S. for work and study exchange programs.

“Something weird is going on about these universities,” he said. “They’re using these visas way too much, they’re using them to undercut the wages of American grad students and American researchers, and it simply has to stop.”

ASU issued the following statement denying any wrongdoing:

As one of the largest research universities in the United States, Arizona State University educates more STEM majors than any other university and employs one of the largest technical and scientific workforces in the country. This benefits both the Arizona and the United States economies and in doing so, ASU has hired the talent needed to perform these functions and done so in complete compliance with existing United States policy and law.

Why does JD Vance think ASU, others are abusing visa system?

Vance made the accusations during a news conference to announce that Microsoft and several other firms were suspended from the H-1B worker visa program.

“We also see a lot of J-1 visa fraud. This is where some of the nation’s most elite universities bring in foreigners … to undercut the wages of American residents,” he said.

In addition to ASU, Vance singled out Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, the University of Pittsburgh, UC Davis, California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Vance said these schools are using J-1 visas at an unusually high rate and paying the international students for their work less than they would Americans.

“What we see is when you employ an American worker as a graduate student, as a researcher, they’re making about $20,000 more than someone brought in under a J-1 visa. And importantly, these universities are employing J-1 visas for federally funded grants at a rate of about 61%. The national average is 38%,” Vance said.

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