Tech investor mocks Vance’s call to hire Americans as 'DEI', gets blasted by Trump officials in H-1B firestorm

Ankit Gupta, a general partner at the influential Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator, drew criticism from Trump administration officials after mocking Vice President JD Vance’s call to prioritize American workers over hiring cheaper foreign labor.

The controversy began after the Trump administration proposed a $103,265 fee for many new H-1B visa petitions.

As it stands, the H-1B visa program allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers for specialty occupations and is overwhelmingly used by the tech industry.

However, it has long been controversial among some conservatives, who say it is abused by tech companies to bring in cheap labor to replace American workers, many of them from India.

The proposed fee would make it costlier for American tech companies to rely on such labor and could give them an incentive to hire Americans instead, something Vance has emphasized repeatedly , such as when he recently declared, "If an American corporation needs workers, it should hire and train Americans." Y Combinator general partner Ankit Gupta, who has since restricted his X posts from public access, mocked Vance, saying in purported screenshots, "In a win for the woke left DEI is back." VANCE WARNS THERE WILL BE A 'SOCIALIST PRESIDENT IN THIS COUNTRY' IF GOP DOESN'T FIX ECONOMY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE Gupta's comments comparing prioritizing American workers over foreign labor to DEI sparked a wave of criticism from several Trump administration officials and renewed a broader debate over H-1B visas , Silicon Valley hiring practices, and whether American workers—particularly younger and entry-level tech workers—are being disadvantaged by companies’ reliance on foreign-worker visa programs.

Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito replied, "Ankit Gupta thinks hiring Americans first—in America—is ‘DEI.’ No, Ankit.

It’s called putting your own citizens first.

American companies.

American jobs.

American workers first.

If that offends you, the problem isn’t America.

It’s your sense of entitlement." FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson criticized Gupta’s rhetoric as part of a larger phenomenon of contempt for American workers.

"I’m deeply uncomfortable with wealthy investors attacking American workers like this.

I’m afraid it’s increasingly obvious to many people that individuals such as this guy do not have the best interests of America and her citizens in mind," he said.