Rep. Riley Moore Says Microsoft's Xbox Layoffs Show H-1B Visa Program Being Used to Replace American Workers

Moore Points to Microsoft Layoffs as Exhibit A

Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV) says the H-1B visa program is being exploited by major corporations to push out American employees, and he's using Microsoft's Xbox division as his lead example.

Speaking with host Matthew Boyle on Breitbart News Saturday, Moore said Microsoft laid off 3,200 employees in its Xbox division and then turned around and applied for thousands of H-1B visas. "So they're going to replace all those American workers with folks from India, Indonesia, and all over the world," Moore said, "and pay them wages that are certainly, obviously, wages that are not competitive here for our American workforce."

Moore's claim ties two real, separately documented events together: Microsoft's Xbox layoffs, which have been widely reported, and the company's use of the H-1B program, which is also publicly disclosed through federal filings. What Moore asserts is that the two are directly connected — that the same jobs cut from American workers are being refilled by H-1B hires at lower pay. That specific causal link is Moore's characterization. Microsoft has not issued a public response addressing that exact claim.

The Broader Argument Moore Is Making

Moore's complaint isn't limited to Microsoft. He argues the abuse runs through white-collar hiring generally — computer programmers, accountants, "you name it." His argument is that companies are often choosing foreign hires not because of superior qualifications but because of lower cost. "The only difference between the computer programmer or accountant that they got from India and the one who has been educated here in the United States is the amount of money that they're willing to pay," Moore said.

He also raised a separate and more serious allegation: that some H-1B applicants submit fraudulent education credentials or inflated qualifications. That claim, as stated, is an allegation from Moore, not something established by a conviction or formal finding in the source material reviewed here.

Vance and DOL Investigations

Moore's comments follow Vice President JD Vance's disclosure, reported by Breitbart News, that the Department of Labor has opened dozens of subpoenas and investigations targeting alleged foreign fraud schemes tied to the H-1B program. Those are open investigations. No charges, indictments, or findings of fraud have been announced as a result of them. The scope of the subpoenas, and whether they target visa applicants, sponsoring employers, or both, was not detailed in the available reporting.

The Case for the Other Side

The tech industry's standard defense of H-1B hiring is worth stating plainly: companies argue the program fills specialized roles, particularly in AI, cloud infrastructure, and advanced engineering, where they say the domestic talent pipeline doesn't produce enough qualified candidates fast enough. Supporters of the program also point out that H-1B visa holders are legally required to be paid the "prevailing wage" for their role and location under Department of Labor rules, which is supposed to prevent undercutting. Critics respond that the prevailing-wage calculation itself is often set too low and that enforcement is weak. That is the gap Moore says the program has "been abused" to exploit for years.

Whether Microsoft's Xbox layoffs and its H-1B filings involve the same job categories, the same locations, or the same timeframe wasn't established in the source material. Federal H-1B disclosure data, published annually by the Department of Labor, would show the specific job titles, wage levels, and worksite locations tied to Microsoft's petitions and would be the concrete way to test Moore's claim rather than rely on the broad-strokes framing offered on Breitbart News Saturday.

What's Unresolved

No timeline has been given for when the Department of Labor's subpoenas and investigations, described by Vance, will produce findings. Whether any of those inquiries touch Microsoft specifically was not stated. Microsoft has not been asked on the record, in the material reviewed, to confirm or deny whether any of the 3,200 Xbox layoffs were followed by H-1B hires for equivalent roles.