H1B/Foreign Labor Policy

Texans First: The Trillion Dollar Jobs Plan

Texas is facing a workforce crisis fueled by the overuse and abuse of H-1B visas and other foreign labor programs, which displace Texans from high-paying tech jobs and give public colleges cover for failing to teach critical, federally mandated Enterprise Applications (EAs). H-1B programs suppress wages by 10-20%—and in some sectors 30-50%—while naturalized and imported workers, earning some of the highest salaries in the world, intensify housing shortages by adding more than 500,000 high-income homebuyers to already strained markets. This crisis is the direct result of both public colleges failing to train Texans in essential EA systems and decades of H-1B program abuse, which allowed foreign labor to fill roles that should belong to Texas workers. As a result, Texans have been denied access to thousands of high-wage EA careers, contributing to an estimated $110–120 billion in lost wages over the last 25 years and $4–5 billion annually diverted out of the State’s economy.

Urgent reform is needed to prioritize Texans, align education with real market demands, and eliminate dependence on foreign labor so the State can finally correct a broken workforce pipeline and allow Texans—for the first time—to compete for high-wage jobs in federally mandated (SOX) Enterprise Applications (EAs) that have been systematically exploited through H-1B programs.

Doc will end Texas’ foreign labor addiction in the same manner he treated wounded Soldiers on the battlefield: stop the bleeding, treat the wounds, and stabilize for long-term care:

Stop the Bleeding:

• Create a Texas First Workforce Tax Benefit rewarding employers who hire Texans within their IT, software, data, cloud, cybersecurity, and EA departments.
• Count all labor from staffing agencies, subcontractors, and offshore vendors toward compliance.
• Provide procurement preference only to Texas First employers.
• 10% transaction fee for all visa and non-citizen foreign money wire transfers
• Ban H-1B in State hiring and contracting

Treat the Wounds:

• Require full transparency from employers and staffing vendors on their use of foreign labor in technical departments.
• Implement departmental workforce ratio standards to reveal where Texans are being replaced.
• Identify college programs that do not align with real workforce needs and map statewide skills gaps.
• Implement the Texas Workforce Resilience Fee on companies with high foreign worker ratios who refuse to comply

Stabilize for Long-Term Care:

• Fund EA training pipelines in high schools, community colleges, and public universities.
• Align education with real industry demand and build a sustainable domestic talent pipeline.
• Restore career access for Texans who were locked out by the foreign labor system.

The Why

Texas, the 8th-largest economy and one of the world’s top technology economies, was left open by public colleges that failed by every meaningful metric—and in doing so, failed multiple generations of Texans. Most notably, these institutions ignored federally mandated (SOX) Enterprise Applications, leaving students unprepared for the systems that govern modern industry. That failure opened the door for offshore outsourcing firms to flood the market with foreign labor pipelines. This must stop.

According to USCIS data, Texas accounts for roughly 12% of all national H-1B demand, with more than 50,000 visa workers brought in each year to fill roles Texans could perform if education aligned with market needs. Public colleges played a direct role in this displacement: they chose not to teach federally mandated (SOX) Enterprise Applications, ignoring a $100 million-per-year industry that continues to grow as more companies relocate and expand into Texas. Every one of those companies needs workers trained in EA systems, yet Texas graduates have almost no pathway into these careers because the required skills were never taught to them. This vacuum allowed outsourcing firms such as Infosys and Cognizant to supply foreign labor pipelines for cost savings, resulting in $4–5 billion in lost wages annually.

Visa-driven population inflows have added an estimated 200,000–500,000 households in high-growth regions such as Austin, Dallas–Fort Worth, and Houston, intensifying affordability crises and pushing rents and home prices higher. Not only does a substantial volume of remittances leave our State each year, but the continual influx of workers through the visa pipeline places significant strain on local communities—driving housing shortages and making real estate increasingly unaffordable for Texans.

Without reform, Texas risks perpetuating a self-reinforcing dependency cycle that erodes community cohesion and limits mobility for native residents, especially young adults. Public colleges will continue producing degrees disconnected from real workforce needs while a $100 million annual EA wage market remains largely untapped by Texans. Reform is essential to restore Texas’ competitive edge, ensure that educational investments lead to real employment outcomes, and rebuild a workforce system grounded in Texas values of opportunity, self-reliance, and accountability.

The How

Stopping the bleeding:

Create a Texas First Workforce Tax Benefit to shift employer behavior away from foreign labor and toward Texans. Companies must meet Texas First workforce benchmarks within their technology, IT, software, data, cybersecurity, cloud, and Enterprise Application (EA) departments, not merely across total corporate headcount. All indirect labor sourced through subcontractors, staffing agencies, and offshore vendors will be counted. Employers who meet these standards will qualify for reduced State taxes and preferred procurement status. This structure prevents large corporations from hiding thousands of foreign contractors behind a massive domestic workforce and directly targets the departments where H-1B and outsourcing abuses occur.

Treat the Wounds:

Texas must clearly understand the sources of workforce failure before long-term solutions can take effect. This begins with full transparency from employers—and from any staffing agencies, subcontractors, or offshore vendors they rely on—so the State can quantify the true extent of outsourced and imported labor in Texas. Texas will implement a workforce ratio standard, measured at the departmental level, to identify exactly where foreign labor has replaced domestic workers.

We will introduce financial deterrents to curb H-1B abuse by enacting the Texas Workforce Resilience Fee—a sliding-scale surcharge on State franchise taxes for companies where foreign workers exceed 10% of the workforce, capped at $5,000 per worker equivalent, with exemptions for those hiring Texans from state-approved EA programs. We’ve all witnessed large corporations mostly ignore the pleas of the people and gorge themselves on the broken H-1B system. While their size may allow them to disregard the carrot that is the Texas Workforce Tax Benefit, they will not be able to ignore the stick that is the Texas Workforce Resilience Fee. This paired with an initial 10% fee on outbound money wire transfers from visa holders and non-citizens (remittances) will make it costlier for firms to rely on foreign labor while encouraging local hiring and keeping Texas money circulating in Texas communities.

At the same time, the State will evaluate which college programs do not align with real workforce needs, identify misaligned pathways, and map the skills gaps that have kept Texans out of SOX-mandated and other high-demand technical careers. These actions expose the structural disconnect between academia and industry and provide the evidence base needed to rebuild a workforce system that finally serves Texans.

Stabilize for Long-Term Care:

Texas will build a long-term workforce pipeline that gives Texans—for the first time—direct access to the careers they were never trained for. The State will fund competitive-grant pilot programs in high schools, community colleges, and public universities to teach federally mandated (SOX) Enterprise Applications (EAs) and related high-demand technical skills. These programs will be designed in partnership with Texas First employers, ensuring that training aligns with real-world hiring needs and leads directly to employment opportunities. Texas will expand these pilots into a statewide workforce model that prioritizes programs linked to verifiable, in-demand career paths. By aligning education with industry needs and creating direct pipelines from training to employment, Texas will develop a self-sustaining domestic talent engine that eliminates dependence on foreign labor and secures stable, long-term opportunities for Texas workers.

The How – In Detail:

First, Texas will introduce a Texas First Workforce Tax Benefit to shift employer behavior away from foreign labor and toward Texans. Companies must meet Texas First workforce benchmarks within their technology, IT, software, data, cybersecurity, cloud, and EA departments, not merely across total corporate headcount. All indirect labor from subcontractors, staffing agencies, and offshore vendors will be counted. Employers who meet these standards will receive reduced taxes and procurement preference. A 10% transaction fee will be imposed at the point of transfer for all visa and non-citizen foreign money wire transfers, deterring the billions in wages that leak from Texas each year.

Second, Texas will apply this standard to all State-linked employment and contracting, measured at the departmental level. H-1B and foreign labor will be prohibited in all State agency technology units, university IT departments, and any contractors performing technical work for the State. These roles must be filled with Texans whenever Texans are available.

Third, Texas will require full transparency from employers and staffing vendors. Companies must publicly disclose workforce composition within their technical departments, including contractors and offshore labor. Texas will establish a Texas First Certification for employers who meet these standards. Certified companies will receive procurement preference, public recognition, and access to EA-trained Texas graduates. A public dashboard will show which companies qualify and which rely on foreign labor pipelines.

Fourth, Texas will address the failure of public colleges. The State will launch competitive-grant programs to teach (SOX) Enterprise Applications (EAs) in high schools, community colleges, and public universities. To ensure compliance, Doc Chambers will use the Governor’s bully pulpit to elevate and support Texas-First legislators—especially like-minded Senators—to leadership positions on the Senate Committee on Higher Education, surrounding academia with Texas-First governance. All boards, commissions, and education bodies must be awash in Texas-First ideology, ensuring institutions serve Texans—not foreign labor markets. Public colleges will also be required to provide a simple, one-page degree cost disclosure, modeled after the Credit CARD Act, showing total program cost, expected borrowing, and monthly repayment obligations. This would steer college students away from degrees that are going to debt-trap them and cause many long-term problems for both the student and society. These reforms will pressure public colleges to adopt a Texas-First approach—delivering the EA and technical training needed to prepare Texans for the very roles that foreign labor pipelines have dominated.

Fifth, Texas will scale these reforms statewide and advocate for federal visa modernization. Although immigration authority is federal, Texas can eliminate pull factors by building a domestic talent pipeline. As Texas First programs scale, foreign labor demand will fall naturally by 20–30% without confrontation. Texas must create the incentives and conditions that drive a Texas-First workforce—ensuring our laws, institutions, and employers align with the interests of Texas workers. By implementing these reforms, Texas will become a model of self-sufficiency and restore opportunity to Texans.

Doc Pete Chambers is the only leader willing and able to drive these reforms through—using the Governor’s authority, the bully pulpit, and a Texas-First mandate to reshape higher education, reclaim our workforce, and secure the future Texans deserve. No more will Texas be treated as an idea and some economic zone to be exploited by the rest of the world at the expense of our people. Texans First.

These are PROPOSED SOLUTIONS subject to the will of The People and specific implementation will occur with future Labor Task Force guidance. We will continue to work hand-in-hand with patriotic, Texas-loving staffing experts and higher education personnel to ensure we put our people first over foreigners.