‘When people hear H-1B…’: Investigative journalists weigh in on immigration policy and local worker displacement

Dallas Express investigative reporter Kellen McGovern Jones will speak Thursday night about federal H-1B visa policy and its impact on Texas communities. His speech will be held for members and guests of the Coppell Republican Women’s Conference at 6:15 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. at Spring Creek in Louisville.Jones’ appearance is part of his ongoing tour exploring how the H-1B visa program affects the state’s local labor market, universities and public policy debates. “When people hear ‘H-1B,’ they tend to think it’s a distant Washington issue,” Jones said before the first few stops on the tour. He added: “The reality is that it affects who is hired, who is fired, what wages are, and how local taxes are spent in a place like Coppell.”In his speech, Jones discussed how companies and academic institutions use the visa program, as well as reforms proposed by members of Congress and U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. Jones’ recent report shows new federal data on the companies receiving the most H-1B approvals in Texas. Cognizant Technology Solutions leads the state with over 50,000 approvals, followed by Infosys Limited with over 45,000 approvals. Other major winners between 2020 and 2025 include Oracle US, Tesla and KPMG.Jones also examines the intersection of immigration and federal housing programs. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development does not track the citizenship status of recipients of certain Federal Housing Administration-guaranteed loans, even if H-1B visa holders are ineligible, a Freedom of Information Act request shows.His reporting also covered the historical use of the H-1B program, including claims that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sponsored visas for colleagues in the 1990s. Notably, Ghislaine Maxwell first obtained long-term U.S. status through Epstein-related H-1B sponsorship.Jones’ reporting on higher education visa applications shows Texas A&M University spent more than $3.25 million to fund H-1B workers, primarily for lower-level teaching positions through 2025.“This is not just immigration policy in the abstract,” Jones said.He added: “It’s about whether communities are subsidizing labor decisions that displace local workers or drive down wages, and whether taxpayers are honest about where their money is going. There are legitimate trade-offs to this plan, and we should be honest about what those trade-offs are.”The Louisville event will conclude with a Q&A session where attendees can discuss the H-1B program and its local impact directly with Jones.