This is not legal: Donald Trump administration responds to 'major H-1B scam', ads in newspapers that no one sees

Donald Trump aide Harmeet Dhillon, the Indian-origin assistant attorney general for civil rights at the US Department of Justice, reacted to a viral post on an apparent H-1B scam and outrightly rejected it as "illegal". The post claimed that some tech positions are only being advertised in local newspapers so that no one can see them, and they can hire H-1Bs.

"A reader from Connecticut shares job listings for tech positions from local newspapers that they intend to fill with Indian H-1Bs," the post said.


"None of these jobs can be applied for online. If you want to become a Senior Data Analyst for Black and Decker, you have to pick up a copy of the Sunday paper. This is intentional. These companies advertise jobs only in the paper---which nobody under the age of 75 reads---solely because they're legally required to post the job SOMEWHERE before they can hire H-1Bs. Since nobody applies---because nobody reads the paper---they can then go to the government and be like, "We couldn't find any Americans for the job! Pretty please give us Indians [which we'll pay pennies to and make them work 18-hour days]!"

"We need new federal regulations to stop this. It's a clear fraud being perpetuated on the American people," the viral post said.

"This is not to hire an H1B. They've already hired him. He's been working there for years. This is to start his application for a green card," one comment said.

'It is in fact legal'

"It is in fact legal. The Department of Labor mandates PERM roles to be posted in Sunday newspapers. These positions also have to be posted to the careers page of the company," one wrote.

"Is it DOJ’s official position that the DOL’s regulations that MANDATE two Sunday newspaper ads as part of the PERM process is illegal? Companies need to ensure good faith recruitment that complies with the regulations, but newspaper ads are mandatory for PERM under DOL regs," Houston-based immigration attorney Steve Brown posted, reacting to Dhillon's post.