U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) is demanding that Texas State University explain why the taxpayer-funded school plans to continue H-1B sponsorship for an existing employee in a Public Relations Specialist position and disclose how broadly it uses the foreign-worker program.
Rep. Roy’s August 20 letter to Texas State President Kelly Damphousse gives the public university until September 3, 2026, to provide records on its H-1B workforce, wages, recruitment practices and transitions from student visas into university employment.
The letter first surfaced in an August 20 exclusive, four days before Rep. Roy’s office posted it publicly, according to the Daily Caller.
The matter involves an extension and amendment for a current employee, not a new employee, Texas State said in an August 20 statement. The employee is a Texas State graduate who has worked full time at the university since August 2023.
The university filed the worker’s original H-1B petition in 2023 and plans to submit the renewal before the existing status expires in January 2027, according to the statement.
“It raises questions about the extent to which the university may be prioritizing the hiring of foreign nationals over American graduates and workers, and whether it made good-faith efforts to recruit a qualified U.S. citizen for the position,” Rep. Roy wrote.
“The H-1B visa program does not serve the interests of Texas nor the nation,” Rep. Roy wrote.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Texas State said in April that its H-1B extensions remained permissible under Texas Workforce Commission guidance despite a freeze on new petitions ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas).
Texas State had not posted a separate public response to Rep. Roy’s letter as of August 31. The university’s August 20 statement addresses the planned extension but does not provide recruitment records, applicant counts, a prevailing wage or Texas State’s total H-1B sponsorship figures.
Texas State says renewal falls outside new-petition freeze
Gov. Abbott’s January 27, 2026, directive bars Texas public universities from initiating or filing new H-1B petitions without written TWC permission through May 31, 2027. It also required universities to report by March 27, 2026, the new and renewal petitions they filed in 2025, current H-1B sponsorships, countries of origin, job classifications, expiration dates and recruitment documentation tied to new petitions.
The directive says state government must lead by example and ensure taxpayer-funded employment opportunities are filled by Texans first.
“TWC does not consider H-1B renewals to be new petitions,” according to the guidance quoted in Texas State’s statement. The university also said the guidance excludes certain in-country changes from F-1 or J-1 status to H-1B status from the new-petition approval process.
The published records do not establish that Texas State violated Gov. Abbott’s directive. The state restriction applies to new petitions, while Texas State describes this matter as an extension and amendment for an existing employee.
TWC’s public permission page describes the process for new petitions. The Dallas Express did not locate a separate public TWC document containing the renewal language Texas State quoted.
Texas State’s policy requires recruitment evidence
Texas State’s current H-1B guidelines say staff sponsorship is more restrictive than faculty sponsorship and limited to full-time, benefits-eligible jobs classified as “difficult to fill” because of their specialized nature. The hiring department must provide evidence showing the position’s critical nature and the challenges it faced recruiting qualified U.S. workers.
The university also offers a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations, and its master’s program in strategic communication lists Public Relations Specialist as a potential career. Texas State therefore trains students for the same broad occupation in which it plans to continue H-1B sponsorship.
That fact does not prove that a Texas State graduate applied, qualified or was passed over for this specific position. It does sharpen the unanswered question of why the university considers this staff position difficult to fill and what recruitment it conducted before continuing sponsorship.
What federal law requires
An ordinary H-1B Labor Condition Application does not require an employer to prove that no qualified American worker is available. An H-1B employer generally does not have to recruit U.S. workers unless it is H-1B-dependent or has been found to be a willful violator, subject to exemptions for certain workers, according to the Department of Labor.
Those employers can face additional recruitment and non-displacement attestations for covered workers. All H-1B employers must pay at least the higher of the actual wage or prevailing wage for the occupation.
A Labor Condition Application is a Department of Labor attestation and notice, not a USCIS petition approval. After DOL certifies an LCA, the employer may use it to support a Form I-129 petition with USCIS. Petitions filed by institutions of higher education generally are exempt from the annual H-1B numerical cap.
The available public records do not establish that Texas State rejected or displaced a U.S. worker for this position. They also do not answer whether Texas State satisfied its own more restrictive staff-sponsorship criteria.
Rep. Roy seeks broader H-1B records
Rep. Roy asked Texas State to disclose its current H-1B workforce, occupations, work locations, education and specialized skills, salary histories and applicable prevailing wages.
He also sought annual H-1B employment figures since fiscal year 2020, cap-subject versus cap-exempt counts, recruitment records and information about F-1 and J-1 students who transition through Optional Practical Training into H-1B employment.
His letter also asks how Texas State complies with Gov. Abbott’s directive and how many university job postings have solicited H-1B workers.
Texas State’s August 20 statement answers the filing-classification question but not why this public relations position met the university’s current difficult-to-fill standard or what recruitment occurred.
The records Rep. Roy requested by September 3 could show whether the planned extension met Texas State’s current criteria and how broadly the taxpayer-funded university relies on H-1B sponsorship for staff employment.
Provided by Dallas Express
