Ankit Gupta, a general partner at Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator, faced significant criticism after characterizing Vice President JD Vance's call for American companies to "hire and train Americans" as a resurgence of "DEI." Gupta stated on X, "In a win for the woke left DEI is back."
His framing was publicly challenged by several figures, including Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon, and Nalin Haley, son of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. D’Esposito argued that prioritizing American citizens is simply "putting your own citizens first."
Gupta's post was made in response to Vance's broader advocacy for American corporations to focus on employing and developing the domestic workforce. Ferguson responded to Gupta's post, which has since been made private, by suggesting Y Combinator might be a "front for the far left." Ferguson added, "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."
Haley echoed this sentiment, questioning if training and hiring Americans is now considered DEI. "Plenty of data to show that Americans are more than qualified, but corporate greed refuses to pay them respectable wages," Haley wrote. "You can have a meritocracy in AMERICA but it has to apply to AMERICANS. Otherwise we’re just a globalist entity and not even a country anymore. Ban the H-1B Visa now!"
Dhillon accused some companies of using visa programs and hiring practices to secure cheaper foreign labor for roles that Americans could fill. She asserted that such practices are "not good business practices; they are not patriotic economic practices; and they are illegal labor practices." Dhillon stated that the Trump administration "will not allow American employers to discriminate against American workers" and indicated that the Justice Department, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Labor Department were collaborating to "level the playing field for U.S. workers."
The exchange occurs as the Trump administration is attempting to reform the H-1B visa program, which enables U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in specialized fields. An earlier effort by the administration to impose a $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions via presidential proclamation was halted by a federal judge. The Department of Homeland Security has since proposed a new rule that would set a fee of $103,265 for cap-subject petitions. The Labor Department also proposed changes to how wages are calculated for H-1B and related visa programs, aiming to prevent hiring foreign workers at below-market rates and to safeguard the employment prospects and wages of American workers.