President Trump’s base is calling foul on a core promise: stop importing foreign labor that displaces American workers. The complaint is simple and direct. The H-1B and L visa pipelines are still open, and now the Justice Department is defending Barack Obama’s H-4 spousal work authorization in court.

Save Jobs USA, representing American workers, sued to end Obama’s 2015 executive move that granted work permits to H-1B spouses on H-4 visas. Congress authorized H-4 visas, but it never authorized work permits. By creating them unilaterally, the rule detached the program from statutory guardrails and any cap.

Because there is no cap, the effect is large. The U.S. still issues around 120,000 H-1B visas each year—including under this administration—while hundreds of thousands of spouses now work in the same industries, heavily in tech and heavily from India. The base sees displacement, outsourcing, and a system that helps foreign firms while hollowing out our own.

This lawsuit began after Southern California Edison fired American workers and replaced them with H-1B holders. It wound through the courts for years. Both district and appellate courts in D.C. sided with the government. Now the case is at the doorstep of the Supreme Court—and the DOJ filed a brief, signed by Pam Bondi, arguing the plaintiffs lack standing.

“Petitioner did not identify a single member who is ‘suffering immediate or threatened injury’ that is fairly traceable to the 2015 rule,” government lawyers wrote. That legal stance enraged conservatives who ask why any Trump administration official would spend time defending an Obama expansion that was never passed by Congress.

The broader backdrop makes this sting more. Seven months into the new administration, the White House has not slowed worker-visa inflows beyond limited national security carve-outs. The president has not used 212(f) authority to pause needless foreign labor. Instead, he has floated importing 600,000 Chinese students—an economic and national security risk rolled into one.

This is the worst moment to flood the zone with visas. The economy has averaged just 35,000 new jobs a month, the weakest pace since the Great Recession. Entry-level listings are down 15% while applications are up 30%. From the class of 2024, 41% are underemployed and 58% are still searching.

Tech keeps cutting while lobbying for more visas. This year alone: Intel 21,000; Panasonic 10,000; Meta 3,600; Hewlett-Packard 2,000; Hewlett Packard Enterprise 2,500; IBM 8,000; PayPal 2,500; Dell 12,500; TCS 12,000. Nearly half of H-1Bs go to outsourcing and staffing firms that feed India’s tech industry and speed the offshoring of U.S. jobs.

There’s also corporate capture. The federal government holds a 10% equity stake in Intel. Palantir, which manages sensitive defense and health datasets, has staffed up with foreign workers who now handle American taxpayers’ critical data. Against that reality, defending Obama’s H-4 spousal work rule looks less like neutral lawyering and more like a political signal.

The base remembers 2015. The warning then is louder now. The U.S. labor market is weaker, outsourcing is more blatant, and the promise was clear: put American workers first. That starts by shutting down lawless programs created by pen and phone—not double-locking them in place with DOJ briefs.

Supporters want a course correction. Use 212(f) to suspend non-essential worker visas until the labor market recovers. End H-4 work authorization that Congress never approved. Tighten H-1B so it cannot be used as a pipeline for body shops and offshoring. Prioritize citizen hiring, not corporate wish lists.

America is not short on talent. It is short on leaders willing to fight for workers instead of donors. Every layoff list and every underemployed graduate is a signal to act. Every visa loophole that undercuts wages is a promise broken—and a fix waiting to happen.

This moment calls for clarity and courage. Stand with Save Jobs USA. Stop defending Obama’s visa expansion. Put the law—and American families—back in charge of our labor market. No more loopholes, no more excuses, no more sellouts. Close the pipelines and hire American—now.