Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said Thursday that the H-1B visa program "has been greatly abused, and other immigration programs as well" — a striking admission from the Senate's longest-serving self-described democratic socialist, delivered on CNN's "The Source."
Host Kaitlan Collins pressed Sanders over his July criticism of Microsoft, which he had accused of laying off American workers while continuing to hire through the visa system. Sanders did not walk it back. According to Breitbart, he stated plainly on air that the program and others like it have been abused.
"It has been greatly abused, and other immigration programs as well." — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), on CNN's "The Source"
A Point of Agreement With the Trump-Vance White House
Sanders' remarks landed the same day Vice President JD Vance invoked the Vermont senator by name while defending the administration's enforcement actions against companies accused of misusing employment-based visa programs.
Speaking at a press conference, Vance noted Sanders' 2016 answer on open borders — an answer, Vance said, that "sounded similar to Stephen Miller's," because Sanders acknowledged that open borders would displace American workers. "It's funny, back in 2016, one of the most interesting things that happened was when Bernie Sanders, then, of course, the leading socialist in the United States of America, was asked about open borders," Vance told Newsweek. "He gave an answer that sounded similar to Stephen Miller's, where he said, of course, we're not going to have open borders because that's going to displace American workers."
Vance's remarks came as the administration announced the suspension of Microsoft, Adobe and several IT outsourcing firms from participating in the Labor Department's PERM program, which allows employers to sponsor foreign workers for green cards. According to Newsweek, the vice president said the administration's investigation found Microsoft laid off roughly 6,000 American workers while continuing to employ approximately 6,300 non-citizens hired through H-1B visas. Administration officials alleged that some companies made misleading representations in the process.
The Numbers Behind the Anger
The H-1B program admits 85,000 visa holders per year through a lottery system heavily dominated by staffing firms and large technology companies. For years, critics on both the populist right and the labor left have argued that the program functions less as a talent pipeline and more as a wage-suppression mechanism — a way for corporations to replace American workers with cheaper, contract-bound foreign labor.
Sanders' July rebuke of Microsoft was squarely in that tradition. On Thursday, he did not retreat from it.
What makes the moment notable is the direction the modern Democratic Party has moved. Vance argued at the press conference that today's left has abandoned the worker-protection framing Sanders once used, embracing open-borders rhetoric instead. Sanders' CNN appearance complicates that story — but only slightly. The senator has not endorsed the administration's enforcement actions, and there is no indication he supports the PERM suspensions announced this week.
The White House, however, wasted no time. Allies of the administration circulated the clip within hours, framing it as proof that even the left's most prominent economic populist agrees with the diagnosis behind the crackdown. Whether Sanders agrees with the cure is a separate question he has not answered.
Microsoft has not publicly responded to the administration's findings as of Friday. The company previously defended its hiring practices, and Reuters reported in July that its layoffs this year affected thousands of U.S.-based employees. Adobe and the IT outsourcing firms named in the suspension have likewise not issued detailed public responses.
The PERM suspensions are interim. It is not yet known how long they will last or whether additional companies will be named.
Our Take
Bernie Sanders just told the truth on CNN, and it took a socialist from Vermont to say out loud what corporate America and its lobbyists have spent thirty years denying: the H-1B system is broken, and it has been used against American workers.
The difference between Sanders and the Trump-Vance administration is not the diagnosis. It is what you do about it. Sanders wants to talk about it on television. President Trump and Vice President Vance are actually suspending companies from the program, investigating the misuse, and putting American workers first in the queue — which is what "America First" was supposed to mean all along, and what Republicans spent years promising without delivering.
Patriots, ask yourself why it took a self-described socialist to admit on live TV what your chamber-of-commerce Republicans would not. Then ask the next candidate who asks for your vote whether they will back the PERM suspensions, or quietly work to gut them the moment the cameras leave.
The H-1B lottery is not a jobs program for foreigners. It is supposed to be a talent program for Americans' benefit. Sanders just said so. The White House is acting like it. Watch which side of that line your representatives land on.
