Trump presents national medal to Microsoft CEO after suspending its H-1B visas and alleging ‘foreign indentured servants’ replaced domestic workers

President Donald Trump celebrated tech billionaires for their contributions to America on Thursday only hours after a company run by one of them, Microsoft , was accused by his vice president of abusing the visa system to bring in more foreign workers.

It so happens five of the six leaders he honored are immigrants.

Before the ceremony that recognized Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Vice President JD Vance announced at a news conference that the tech company was being suspended from a program that allows companies to apply for green cards for skilled foreign workers with H-1B visas.

The crackdown on Microsoft revealed the tension between the companies that power U.S. economic growth and the administration’s efforts to reduce immigration.

Trump’s team insists it’s possible to spot the superstar immigrants who could lead groundbreaking companies and that hiring unexceptional foreigners had hurt U.S. workers.

“Our message to Microsoft is: You’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” Vance told a news conference.

He said the company had abused the visa system.

“You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants.” Vance said Microsoft last year fired 6,000 U.S. workers but also obtained 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards.

The tech company, based in Redmond, Washington, has 223,000 employees worldwide.

It said in a statement that the majority of its H-1B visa applications last fiscal year were “to extend or change the status of existing Microsoft employees.” In presenting the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Microsoft’s CEO, Trump took a more flattering approach and made no statements about the company’s hiring of foreign workers.

“For more than three decades, Satya Nadella has been a key figure in the transformation of Microsoft, revolutionizing the company and empowering businesses, students and consumers from all over the world with some of the most capable software ever built,” Trump said.

When Vance was asked about the seeming contradiction, he said, “We’re going to continue to support Microsoft and have a great relationship with Microsoft.” Of the six tech leaders who received an award for scientific and technological achievement from the president, five came from abroad.

The president gave the National Medal of Science to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk , Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang , and Lisa Su, CEO of the semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices.

Each of them was born overseas — South Africa for Musk, Russia for Brin and Taiwan for Huang and Su.