Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador has joined a coalition of attorneys general from 13 states in filing formal comments with the U.S. Department of Labor, backing a proposed rule that would raise the minimum wages employers must pay workers brought in under the H-1B visa program.

Program Designed for Shortages, Critics Say It Has Been Misused

Congress established the H-1B visa program to give employers a path to hire skilled foreign workers when qualified American candidates are not available. The coalition’s argument is that current wage standards have allowed companies to use the program as a cost-cutting tool rather than a genuine labor shortage remedy.

The most widely cited example in the debate is Southern California Edison, which replaced hundreds of American information technology employees with H-1B visa holders at wages roughly 40 percent lower than what the departing workers had earned. Employees who were let go were required to train their foreign replacements before their last day — a condition critics have pointed to as evidence the program has strayed from its original purpose.

Major technology and media companies, including Amazon, Apple, Google, Disney, and Meta, have also drawn scrutiny for conducting large-scale layoffs while simultaneously filing thousands of H-1B petitions.

Wage Floors Rooted in Decades-Old Guidance

At the center of the legal challenge is how the Department of Labor calculates the “prevailing wage” that H-1B employers are required to pay. The current methodology traces back to informal agency guidance issued in 1998 and 2005 — neither of which went through the public comment process required for formal rulemaking.

The Department of Labor has acknowledged that the existing wage floors are pegged to the average pay of the lowest-paid one-third of workers surveyed in a given occupation, and has stated it “did not previously conduct any meaningful economic analysis” to validate that approach. The coalition contends that the methodology is likely unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act because it bypassed the notice-and-comment requirements that govern substantive federal rules.

The proposed rule under consideration would replace that framework with higher minimum wage thresholds, making it more expensive for employers to use H-1B workers as a substitute for American employees rather than as a supplement in genuine shortage conditions.

National Security Angle

The coalition also raised concerns about the composition of the H-1B workforce. Roughly one in eight H-1B recipients in recent years has been a Chinese national — notable given that the federal government formally designates China as a foreign adversary. The five companies that received the largest number of approved H-1B petitions are involved in developing sensitive American technology, according to the filing.

Labrador and the other attorneys general argue that aligning H-1B wages with true market rates would simultaneously protect American workers from wage-based displacement and reduce the incentive for companies working in sensitive sectors to rely heavily on workers from adversarial nations.

Where Things Stand

The 13-state coalition’s comments are part of the formal rulemaking process at the Department of Labor, which solicited public input on its proposed wage floor changes. A final rule has not yet been issued. If adopted, the regulation would mark the most significant update to H-1B wage standards in decades.

Labrador’s involvement continues a pattern of Idaho’s attorney general engaging with multistate coalitions on federal regulatory and immigration-adjacent issues. Idaho’s congressional delegation has also been active on related economic and national security fronts, with Senator Mike Crapo pursuing initiatives ranging from trade enforcement to federal funding priorities.

The outcome of the rulemaking could have broad implications for Idaho employers in technology and skilled trades who rely on H-1B workers, as well as for Idaho workers in those same sectors who compete for positions against visa holders hired at below-market wages.