(José Niño, Headline USA) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took aim at foreign worker hiring in Florida’s university system, a move that drew praise from immigration hawks on social media.
On Saturday, Pascal Najadi posted on X celebrating the announcement, calling it a “bombshell moment” and adding “HUGE!” Najadi’s post amplified DeSantis’s demand that universities prioritize homegrown talent over imported labor, reproducing the governor’s remarks in stylized, all-caps form.
🚨 BREAKING: In a bombshell moment, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ABOLISHES H-1B VISAS from being used at state universities
"We can do it with Florida RESIDENTS or AMERICANS! If we can't? Then man, we need to REALLY look deeply at what's going on with this situation!"
DeSantis… pic.twitter.com/vjpF5O3pKL
— Pascal Najadi (@imPascalNajadi) June 13, 2026
According to CBS, the governor delivered his directive on October 29, 2025 at a press conference at the University of South Florida in Tampa, accusing universities of hiring inexpensive overseas workers rather than capable American graduates and describing many H-1B hires as “cheap labor.”
“We can do it with our residents in Florida or with Americans, and if we can’t do it, then man, we need to really look deeply about what is going on with this situation,” DeSantis said.
Administration audits found roughly 400 foreign nationals employed at Florida public universities through H-1B visas. Per the Florida Phoenix, DeSantis called the reliance on such hiring “troubling,” reading off examples that included a public policy professor from China, a psychologist from the United Kingdom, an assistant swim coach from Spain, an athletic-department graphic designer from Canada, and a coordinator from Trinidad and Tobago.
The Chinese public-policy hire drew his sharpest criticism—a line Najadi amplified in his post, rendered there as “Why do we need to bring someone from CHINA to talk about public policy?!”
“I am directing today the Florida Board of Governors to pull the plug on the use of these H-1B visas in our universities,” DeSantis said.
Florida’s Board of Governors approved the prohibition on March 2, 2026, adopting a rule that bars new H-1B hires across all 12 public universities through January 5, 2027. The measure passed with two dissenting votes, from the board’s faculty and student representatives. Workers currently holding H-1B status can continue their employment and renew their visas.
Announced alongside the visa directive at the same October 29 event, Florida’s partnership between the state’s Department of Government Efficiency and its federal counterpart also canceled or redirected more than $33 million in DEI-related grants across the state university system, per a report by the Business Standard.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
