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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott orders Texas agencies to halt H-1B visa requests

By
Ken Molestina
Ken Molestina
Prior to joining CBS 11 News in January 2014 as anchor and reporter, Ken was most recently a reporter for WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, he was a news anchor and reporter at KVIA-TV in El Paso, where he focused on crime and public safety reporting.
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Ken Molestina

/ CBS Texas

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is sending a strong directive to all state agencies, including public universities: stop petitioning for H-1B visas for foreign-born workers.

The H-1B visa is a legal permission allowing specialized workers from abroad to be in the U.S. temporarily to work.

The governor's directive is re-igniting debate over whether Texas is welcoming to those from abroad.

There are thousands of H-1B visa holders in Texas.

U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) data shows at least 2,400 visas were approved in 2025 for educational services employees of publicly funded institutions. That number doesn't just include teachers; it also includes other school employees, as well as employees of science and health research centers.

Dallas Independent School District is the top public school employer of H-1B visa recipients in Texas, with 230.

"It's absolutely outrageous that the Texas government has been one of the top 10 users or abusers of the H-1B program," said Ellis County State Rep. Brian Harrison.

Harrison pushed for this new directive and accused Texas agencies of spending more than $10 million on total costs associated with H-1B visa programs at state-run universities and school districts.

"Who pays for that? Who pays to import all of these foreign workers, who are, by the way, not super high-skilled, not specialized in many cases, and taking jobs that absolutely could and should go to the hard-working men and women of the state of Texas," Harrison said.

Opinions differ.

"We've also seen that in many rural areas, not only for hospitals, but for schools, because they have had difficulty obtaining qualified employees in those areas," said Haim Vasquez, a North Texas immigration attorney. "Those are the ones that will get the most affected if these applications get freezed long term."

He said the fallout could be long-lasting.

"If these visas would not be allowed to continue or renewed, what we will see is probably school districts not having enough personnel to hire teachers," Vasquez said. "Certain universities would not be able to obtain talent."

"We've got 30 million hard workin,g over-taxed Texans," Harrison said. "Those are the people I am fighting for, and I am completely convinced that most of these jobs could have been filled by Texans."

The other part of the directive is that all H-1B visa programs in the state be reviewed for possible misuse.

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