Florida universities got blindsided by reality.
Their cozy system of importing foreign workers just collapsed.
And Ron DeSantis just hit universities with one announcement that left woke administrators speechless.
Universities caught red-handed importing cheap foreign labor
Ron DeSantis dropped a bomb on Florida's higher education establishment during a Wednesday press conference at the University of South Florida in Tampa.
The Governor ordered the Florida Board of Governors to completely shut down the H-1B visa program at state universities.¹
"Universities across the country are importing foreign workers on H-1B visas instead of hiring Americans who are qualified and available to do the job," DeSantis declared. "We will not tolerate H-1B abuse in Florida institutions. That's why I have directed the Florida Board of Governors to end this practice."²
Florida's audit team discovered nearly 400 foreign workers currently employed at state universities under H-1B visas.³
DeSantis called out specific examples that exposed how universities were gaming the system to avoid hiring qualified Americans.
The University of Florida employed an assistant swim coach from Spain.
"Are you kidding me? We can't produce an assistant swim coach in this country?" DeSantis asked at the press conference.⁴
Universities were using H-1B visas for positions that had nothing to do with specialized knowledge and everything to do with paying workers less money.
The Governor rattled off other examples including a $40,000-per-year graphic designer position in an athletic department that universities claimed required foreign expertise.⁵
"I don't understand. How is that specialized knowledge that only someone from these places can do a $40,000 job working as the assistant at the athletic department?" DeSantis explained. "That's an abuse of this whole idea."⁶
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1983566157387817325
Trump Administration already tightening the screws on H-1B program
DeSantis's crackdown follows President Trump's September decision to impose a massive $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas.⁷
That represented a nearly 500-fold increase from the previous $215 charge that took effect September 21.⁸
Trump's proclamation cited "systematic abuse" of the program as Big Tech companies fired American workers and replaced them with lower-paid foreigners.⁹
The White House documented how companies shut down entire IT divisions, fired American staff, and outsourced jobs to H-1B workers at significant discounts.¹⁰
Computer science and computer engineering graduates now face unemployment rates above 6%, more than double the rates for biology and art history majors, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York study.¹¹
Universities traditionally enjoyed exemption from federal H-1B caps, enabling them to hire foreign workers year-round with no limits.¹²
But that special treatment allowed universities to abuse the program worse than private companies.
The University of Florida topped Florida universities with 156 H-1B visa holders, followed by the University of South Florida with 72 and Florida State University with 67.¹³
Immigration attorney Renata Castro tried defending the program by claiming H-1B workers cost employers more money due to wage regulations.
"Maybe what Ron DeSantis is really trying to tell us Floridians is that we need wage reform," Castro said with a chuckle.¹⁴
That argument fell flat when DeSantis revealed universities were using the visas for low-paying positions that Americans with basic qualifications could easily fill.
Florida DOGE finds $33 million in taxpayer money funding racial grievance studies
DeSantis wasn't done dropping bombs on Florida's universities.
His Department of Government Efficiency partnered with Trump's federal DOGE and found more than $33 million in diversity, equity, and inclusion grants that Florida universities were using to push racial ideology.¹⁵
Florida colleges had another $10.6 million in DEI grants that got canceled or redirected to programs that don't discriminate based on skin color.¹⁶
The grants revealed exactly how universities have been scamming taxpayers for years.
A $1.5 million grant for "Challenging Anti-Black Racism in Civil and Environmental Engineering Curriculum" got terminated for violating state and federal anti-discrimination laws.¹⁷
Another $1.3 million grant called "Mobilizing Physics Teachers to Promote Inclusive and Communal Classroom Cultures Through Everyday Actions" focused on promoting women and minority racial groups rather than actual physics education.¹⁸
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1983657395139358900
"I mean, that's political slop that they're trying to do," DeSantis said at the press conference.¹⁹
Florida redirected previously race-based grants to focus on financial need instead of skin color.
A $1.5 million STEM grant that promoted "historically marginalized students" now awards money based on economic hardship rather than racial preferences.²⁰
The state expanded a $700,000 National Science Foundation grant that exclusively targeted Black students to include eligibility for all students regardless of race.²¹
Ben Watkins, Director of the Division of Bond Finance overseeing Florida DOGE, dubbed the efficiency initiative "DeSantis Efficiency Initiative" as a play on DEI.²²
"It's not rocket science. It basically takes fundamental financial management practice and applies them to universities," Watkins explained.²³
Universities built an empire of bureaucratic waste funded by taxpayers while claiming they couldn't find qualified Americans to hire.
Now DeSantis is forcing them to choose between serving American students and American workers or losing state funding.
Robert Cassanello, president of the United Faculty of Florida, criticized DeSantis for emphasizing merit-based hiring while opposing the H-1B program.²⁴
But Cassanello missed the point entirely – DeSantis supports merit-based hiring of Americans, not importing foreign workers to undercut wages.
The crackdown puts Florida at the forefront of Trump's America First agenda in higher education.
Universities that spent decades lecturing Americans about diversity while discriminating against them in hiring and admissions just got their comeuppance.
And DeSantis made it clear that Florida taxpayers won't fund universities that put foreign workers and racial preferences ahead of qualified American graduates.
¹ Michelle Vecerina, "DeSantis directs H-1B visa crackdown, announces $33 million in DEI grants canceled or repurposed," Florida Phoenix, October 29, 2025.
² Governor Ron DeSantis, "Governor Ron DeSantis Directs Florida Board of Governors to Crack Down on H-1B Visa Abuse," Executive Office of the Governor, October 29, 2025.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Brooke Shafer, "Gov. DeSantis to 'pull the plug' on H-1B visas at Florida schools," NewsNation, October 30, 2025.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ "Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers," The White House, September 19, 2025.
⁸ "DeSantis Orders Florida Universities to End H-1B Visa Hiring, Sparking National Debate on Immigration," University Herald, October 30, 2025.
⁹ "Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers," The White House, September 19, 2025.
¹⁰ Ibid.
¹¹ Ibid.
¹² Governor Ron DeSantis, "Governor Ron DeSantis Directs Florida Board of Governors to Crack Down on H-1B Visa Abuse," Executive Office of the Governor, October 29, 2025.
¹³ Steven Walker, "DeSantis wants Florida universities to 'pull the plug' on H-1B staff from foreign countries," Orlando Sentinel, October 29, 2025.
¹⁴ "DeSantis orders crackdown on H-1B visas in Florida universities, calls program a 'scam'," WFLX, October 29, 2025.
¹⁵ Governor Ron DeSantis, "Governor Ron DeSantis Directs Florida Board of Governors to Crack Down on H-1B Visa Abuse," Executive Office of the Governor, October 29, 2025.
¹⁶ Ibid.
¹⁷ Ibid.
¹⁸ Ibid.
¹⁹ "DeSantis tells Florida universities to stop hiring foreign visa workers," WFSU News, October 30, 2025.
²⁰ Governor Ron DeSantis, "Governor Ron DeSantis Directs Florida Board of Governors to Crack Down on H-1B Visa Abuse," Executive Office of the Governor, October 29, 2025.
²¹ Ibid.
²² "DeSantis previews Florida DOGE findings in USF visit," USF Oracle, October 29, 2025.
²³ "Florida Gov. audits university spending, DEI programs, H-1B visas," WFLA, October 29, 2025.
²⁴ Steven Walker, "DeSantis wants Florida universities to 'pull the plug' on H-1B staff from foreign countries," Orlando Sentinel, October 29, 2025.
