Any crackdown could hit New Jersey hard, since it has the fourth-highest number of jobs filled by foreign workers here on H-1B visas.
About 85,000 jobs in New Jersey are held by foreign workers who are here on H-1B visas - a category now being targeted by President Trump.
On Tuesday, the president ordered a crackdown on U.S. tech companies that he said may be gaming the system by falsely claiming they face a shortage of qualified American job applicants.
"The Buy and Hire American order I'm about to sign will protect workers and students like you," Trump told a crowd at the headquarters of Snap-On Tools, a Wisconsin-based manufacturer, on a visit Tuesday. "It's America first, you better believe it. It's time. It's time, right?"
The H-1B program is open to applicants in a wide category of occupations, including architects and professors. It's meant for jobs requiring specialty skills that companies claim cannot be filled easily by a U.S. worker. It differs from the visas issued to migrant farm workers, seasonal help, or visiting scholars, athletes or entertainers.
Nationwide, most of the H-1B visa jobs are in the field of computer technology - jobs that pay an average of $65,000 to $85,000 in New Jersey, according to information compiled by the Office of Foreign Labor Certification, a division of the U.S. Department of Labor.
In 2015, the United States issued nearly 173,000 H-1B visas. While the ceiling set by Congress is technically 85,000 a year, the number is actually higher to allow for university and academic hires.
Trump's latest executive order directs U.S. agencies to propose rules to prevent immigration fraud and abuse in the program. It does not propose the program be eliminated.
The number of H-1B visas the United States issues each year is subject to intense lobbying in Congress by employers on one side, unions and professional associations on the other, said Carl E. Van Horn, of Rutgers University, professor of public policy who specializes in issues affecting the workforce.
In order for a company to import a foreign worker, it must make a case there is a shortage here of qualified local workers for the job.
"The issue then becomes, 'How do you prove there's a shortage?' This is a hugely controversial question to answer," Van Horn said.
New Jersey has the fourth highest number of H-1B workers, trailing only California, Texas and New York. And, as elsewhere around the country, most of the visa holders work as computer systems analysts, computer programmers, all other computer occupations; software and application developers, and management analysts.
Workers' groups argue the jobs could easily be filled with Americans if salaries were raised. Employers vigorously push back against that approach, Horn said. "When they lobby, they say, 'What do you want us to do? Do you want to force us to raise wages? That's not what the government does. Back off,'" he said.
Companies have another effective card they can play as well, Van Horn noted: They can point out it's better to keep the job here - even if it is filled by a foreigner - rather than outsource the work entirely to another country. "They say, 'Hey, would you rather have us set up a division in Pakistan or India?'," he said.
Many of these jobs are in the IT field because its rapid change makes employers reluctant to hire someone who isn't completely up to speed, said Van Horn.
New Jersey currently has about 72,000 people considered to be the "long-term unemployed," said Van Horn, director of Rutgers' John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development.
The center helps run the New Start Career Network, a program that helps unemployed people over the age of 45. Roughly a fifth of its 2,000 members are in the IT field.
"They're struggling," Van Horn said. "They have the credentials, the bachelor's degree. But when they don't get the job, it's because they came up against someone saying, 'Well, you don't have this particular software that we need today.'"
Two of the top ten employers applying for H-1B slots are based in New Jersey, although both are large firms with additional work sites in many other states. Those two companies combined account for one out of every ten approved H-1B slots.
Cognizant Technology Solutions U.S. Corporation, headquartered in Teaneck, had nearly 87,000 positions certified in 2015.
Fifth on the list of top 10 was iGate Technologies Inc., a global IT company that is headquartered in Bridgewater. It had nearly 40,000 slots approved for foreign hires.
Kathleen O'Brien may be reached at kobrien@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @OBrienLedger. Find NJ.com on Facebook.