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Ankit Gupta Faces Backlash from the Administration for Mocking Vice President JD Vance’s Push to Prioritize American Workers

Ankit Gupta, a general partner at the startup accelerator Y Combinator, has drawn significant criticism from the administration for mocking Vice President JD Vance’s advocacy for hiring American workers. Gupta characterized Vance’s call to prioritize domestic labor over cheaper foreign labor as a return to "woke left DEI" practices. In response, several officials, including Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito and FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, defended the "hire Americans first" stance as a matter of putting citizens first. This debate coincides with the administration’s effort to overhaul the H-1B visa program. The administration announced a proposed $103,265 fee for new H-1B petitions to make it costlier for companies to rely on foreign labor. While tech industry leaders like Gupta have historically favored the H-1B program to fill specialized roles, the administration argues that the program is often abused by corporations to replace American workers with cheaper foreign labor. The administration is also pursuing a formal review of job advertisements that explicitly seek H-1B candidates, aiming to level the playing field for U.S. workers.

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