A day after US President Donald Trump defended the H-1B visa programme, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said the United States will continue using visa programmes while ensuring their integrity. She also highlighted that more foreign-born individuals are becoming naturalised citizens under the Trump administration.

"We're going to keep using our visa programmes. We're just going to make sure that they have integrity, that we're actually doing the vetting of the individuals who come into this country, that they want to be here for the right reasons, that they're not supporters of terrorists and organisations that hate America,” Noem said in an interview with Fox News.

When asked about the administration’s stance on H-1B visas following Trump’s remarks that America needs to bring in talent because it lacks “certain talents,” Noem praised the administration’s efforts to reform immigration processes.

“And that's what I think is so remarkable… under the Trump administration, we've sped up our process and added integrity to the visa programmes, to Green Cards, to all of that. But also, more people are becoming naturalised under this administration than ever before. More people are becoming citizens because we're not just streamlining and building some processes back into our immigration policies, we're also making sure that these individuals that are coming into our country and get that privilege, that they actually are here for the right reasons,” she said.

Noem also criticised the Joe Biden administration, alleging that it had compromised national security.

“They opened the Southern border. They abused our asylum programmes, abused our protective programmes and visa programmes, and we fixed all of it,” she said.

Praising Trump’s leadership, Noem added, “It's remarkable what President Trump has done, and it's because he's a great leader, he’s a visionary, and this man is going to go down as a legend in history as our greatest president ever.”

Earlier, Trump had defended the H-1B visa programme, saying America needs to bring in global talent. “I agree but you also do have to bring in talent,” Trump had said in an interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox News.

He was responding to a question on whether his administration would prioritise the H-1B issue and if raising wages for American workers meant restricting foreign labour.

When Ingraham argued that “we have plenty of talent,” Trump replied, “No, you don’t, no you don’t. You don’t have certain talents. And people have to learn. You can't take people off an unemployment line, and say, ‘I'm going to put you into a factory, we're going to make missiles’.”

Trump cited examples from Georgia, where, according to him, authorities “raided because they wanted illegal immigrants.”

He elaborated, “They had people from South Korea that made batteries all their lives. You know, making batteries (is) very complicated. It's not an easy thing, and very dangerous. A lot of explosions, lot of problems. They had, like 500-600 people, early stages to make batteries and to teach people how to do it. Well, they wanted them to get out of the country. You're going to need that…I mean, I know you and I disagree on this. You can't just say a country is coming in, going to invest USD 10 billion to build a plant and going to take people off an unemployment line who haven't worked in five years, and they're going to start making missiles. It doesn't work that way.”

The Trump administration has intensified efforts to curb abuse in the H-1B visa system, which is commonly used by technology firms to hire skilled foreign professionals. Indian workers, particularly in the tech and healthcare sectors, form one of the largest groups of H-1B visa holders.

In September, Trump issued a Proclamation titled Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers, marking an initial step toward reforming the H-1B programme. Under the new rules, certain H-1B petitions filed after September 21, 2025, must include an additional USD 100,000 payment as a condition of eligibility.

Last week, the administration launched around 175 investigations into alleged H-1B visa abuses, including issues such as underpayment, fake work sites, and the practice of "benching" employees.

“As part of our mission to protect American Jobs, we’ve launched 175 investigations into H-1B abuse,” the US Department of Labour said in a post on X.

It added that under the leadership of President Donald Trump and Labour Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the agency “will continue taking action to put American workers first.”

Chavez-DeRemer also wrote on X, “The Labour Department is using every resource at our disposal to put a stop to H-1B abuse and protect American Jobs. Under the leadership of @POTUS, we’ll continue to invest in our workforce and ensure high-skilled job opportunities go to American Workers FIRST!”