A spokesperson for Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, a national coalition of college and university leaders focused on immigration policy said,
“What has made U.S. higher education the best in the world is that we have been able to attract the best people for these positions,”
Just three months ago, at end of last year, Governor Ron DeSantis had a DOGE-style audit at Florida state universities. He called H1B a 'Cottage industry from India' and a 'scam' hurting US workers. He said he was directing the Florida Board of Governors to pull the plug on the use of H1B visas in state universities.
Over 7,000 H-1B visa holders were sponsored by Florida employers as of mid-2025.
He criticized the narrative that H-1B workers represent the “best and brightest,” arguing “Companies lay off Americans while bringing in new H-1Bs. It’s not the best and brightest—, mostly from one country India. “They say it’s the cream of the crop. That’s not the reality” he said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that his administration is just now going to start examining whether Texas taxpayer dollars are being used in connection with employees working under H-1B visas at public K-12 schools and universities.
On the federal side, in DC it turns out Twenty-four senators requested $636 million of earmarks for the universities they attended as students. That’s more than 20% of the $3.7 billion of earmarks requested for universities in the 2026 federal budget Big Beautiful Bill.
Republicans were the top 4 almost 40% of that. The good news for Florida and Texas is Rick Scott, Ashley Moody, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz weren’t on that list. Maybe that's why their states are speaking out.
He criticized the narrative that H-1B workers represent the “best and brightest,” arguing “Companies lay off Americans while bringing in new H-1Bs. It’s not the best and brightest—, mostly from one country India. “They say it’s the cream of the crop. That’s not the reality” he said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that his administration is just now going to start examining whether Texas taxpayer dollars are being used in connection with employees working under H-1B visas at public K-12 schools and universities.
On the federal side, in DC it turns out Twenty-four senators requested $636 million of earmarks for the universities they attended as students. That’s more than 20% of the $3.7 billion of earmarks requested for universities in the 2026 federal budget Big Beautiful Bill.
Republicans were the top 4 almost 40% of that. The good news for Florida and Texas is Rick Scott, Ashley Moody, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz weren’t on that list. Maybe that's why their states are speaking out.
