Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback has sparked controversy after declaring that, if elected, he would abolish the H-1B visa programme, which he claims undermines job opportunities for American citizens. The 30-year-old investor specifically highlighted that Indians receive the majority of H-1B visas, arguing that the system disproportionately benefits workers from India at the expense of young American graduates.
Fishback said that many recent graduates in Florida are struggling to find employment, blaming companies for importing what he called “cheap labour” from India and China for entry-level technology and accounting roles. He insisted that American workers should be prioritised and claimed that immigrants — even those who eventually become citizens — should not be part of the “American dream.”
Pressed during a CNN interview on why he was singling out Indian Americans, who represent less than one per cent of Florida’s population, Fishback responded that his issue was not ethnicity, but the fact that 77 per cent of H-1B visas go to Indian nationals. “I don’t hate immigrants, but I love our own people,” he said.
Fishback has pledged that, if elected governor, he will fire every H-1B visa holder working in state agencies and cancel contracts with companies that hire H-1B workers instead of Floridians. He also promised hefty fines for firms that continue to employ foreign workers on these visas.
The candidate even criticised fellow Republican and Trump-endorsed opponent Byron Donalds, calling him “H-1Byron” and accusing him of siding with corporate donors rather than American workers. Fishback has framed much of his campaign around dismantling the H-1B programme, even though it is administered at the federal level.
Although a supporter of Donald Trump, Fishback has publicly disagreed with the President’s backing of high-skilled visa programmes. He has gone further by demanding a complete halt to legal immigration, arguing that immigration decades ago was different from today and claiming to represent a strict “America First” agenda.
Fishback is the founder and CEO of the investment firm Azoria, launched in 2023. The Miami-based candidate, once a Georgetown University dropout who built a hedge fund at age 21, has positioned himself as an outsider battling elite interests — a message that has fueled his rising profile but also drawn strong criticism for targeting immigrant communities, particularly Indian professionals.
