It’s illegal, yet it continues
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'No US Citizens': Meet the IT Firms Discriminating Against Americans
The job post for LanceSoft, an IT staffing firm committed to "diversity, equality, and inclusivity," began innocently enough.
The $60-per-hour role would be based in Santa Clara, Calif., focus on "technical support," and entail a 3–10 p.m. shift. Posted on Nvoids, an IT jobs aggregator, the ad described LanceSoft as an equal opportunity employer and said that the firm, one of the largest staffing agencies in the country, strives "to be as diverse as the clients and employees we partner with."
"We embrace people of any race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender identity, and sexual orientation," the Nov. 25 post read.
This particular job, however, would not be open to a very large group of people: citizens of the United States.
In a section titled "Visa requirement," LanceSoft recruiter Riyaz Ansari wrote that "candidates must hold an active H1B visa"—and stated explicitly that American citizens need not apply.
"No USC/GC for this role," Ansari wrote, using the acronyms for U.S. citizens and green card holders. He added that "LanceSoft is a certified Minority Business Enterprise"—a status the firm has used to secure public contracts—and touted the company's "diversified team environment."
Federal law bars employers from discriminating based on citizenship status. But in the industries most reliant on the H-1B program, which provides visas to more than 700,000 immigrants, advertisements like LanceSoft's litter online recruiting boards.
The Washington Free Beacon identified over two dozen job postings since 2024 that appear to bar applications from U.S. citizens. The posts were made on a variety of platforms, including Glassdoor and LinkedIn, and typically indicate a preference for H-1B visas, though some allow for other visa types as well. Several of the firms are minority-owned businesses, meaning they receive preferential access to government contracts even as they exclude U.S. workers.
The posts illustrate what Trump administration officials say is a common form of hiring discrimination that has long been underpoliced. They come as conservatives are debating the merits of the H-1B visa program, which some argue has been abused by employers to hire foreign workers—especially Indian outsourcers—at the expense of American ones.
"A shocking number of covered entities, especially recruiters, continue to express explicit preferences for visa guest workers," said Andrea Lucas, the chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). "In the shadows of under-enforcement, this type of discrimination has festered."
In theory, the H-1B program lets employers hire high-skilled immigrants when they cannot find qualified U.S. workers. Congress created the program in 1990 to offset predicted labor shortages in tech and medicine—the assumption being that there would not be enough Americans to fill those roles.
But more than three decades later, businesses are hiring H-1B candidates without ever searching for U.S. workers. Critics say the program has become a spigot for cheap foreign labor that allows companies to pay below-market wages while minimizing turnover, since the employer-sponsored visa ties migrants to their jobs. That creates an incentive to hire H-1Bs even when there is no shortage of domestic labor.
Now, some companies are responding to that incentive by restricting certain roles to foreign nationals. And though the Justice Department has fined dozens of employers for discriminating against U.S. citizens—including under the Biden administration—many firms are still posting ads that explicitly exclude Americans.
One recruiter posted on LinkedIn that an IT job in Chicago was open to almost "any visa" but "no USC," meaning U.S. citizens.
Kasmo, a Texas-based IT firm, didn't even bother with the acronym, writing on Glassdoor that "NO US Citizen" was eligible for a job training program.
It’s a lengthy article, with snapshots many examples of the illegal ds posted on the internet, but you get the gist of it just from this excerpt.
And this isn’t just happening in the IT industry; trucking firms have been shutting down around the country for years now as competitors using cheap, undocumented drivers cut their prices below the profitability level of legitimate firms employing legal drivers.
If you’re looking for a local example, notice the makeup of the next tree-trimming crew you pass in Greenwich: almost without exception, they’re Hispanic. In the 70s, I had a number of friends working that job — one even had his own successful company – they all went on to better things, but they were replaced by Hispanics who, I’m guessing, were not (legal) Americans. One didn’t see Hispanic crews in Maine until just a few years ago, when utilities and towns began hiring presumably cheaper out-of-state contractors using laborers who to this eye appear to have come from south of the border, not north of Bangor. We hear claims from those supporting open immigration that there are jobs “that Americans just won’t do” — that may explain why lab rats have been replaced by lawyers as experimental subjects, but otherwise, I think the more accurate description of the situation is that there are jobs that Americans won’t do for 10-cents on the dollar.