Microsoft Gets Put on Pause - 10/12/26

The Trump administration is suspending eight major tech companies from a program that allows employers to sponsor H-1B visa holders for green cards, citing suspected fraud and accusing the companies of undercutting American workers. Vice President J.D. Vance announced Microsoft's suspension at an October 8th White House news conference, and Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling added that the restrictions also apply to Adobe, Cognizant, Infosystems, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies, and Capgemini. Labor Secretary Sonderling noted that since 2009, these companies have requested almost 3 million foreign workers.

According to records, they received over 230,000 H-1B visa approvals and over 100,000 permanent labor certifications. Vice President Vance singled out Microsoft, saying the company laid off about 6,000 American workers in 2025, while obtaining roughly 6,300 H-1B approvals. For every worker that Microsoft laid off, Vance said, they replaced that worker with one and a half foreign indentured servants. Now, that is a scandalous system that we've allowed in this country for far too long. In other news, while Democrats are leading in the polls, Republicans are out raising and outspending Democrats in the final weeks before the midterm elections.

Today is also the feast of St. Carlo Acutis, a young computer whiz who in the early days of the internet... with people across the world to learn more about Eucharistic miracles. His exhibit on these miracles has crisscrossed every corner of the globe. I'm Josh Mercer, editor of The Loop, taking you behind the headlines. Go to zeal.co for the rest of today's loop, and while you're at it, subscribe to get The Loop in your inbox every morning. Again, that's zeal.co.