Trump’s DOJ Takes Charge of OpenAI’s Green Card Sponsorship Programs

On Wednesday, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced that OpenAI and its former subsidiary Statsig have come to a settlement that imposes three years of oversight on the AI lab’s recruitment practices.

The DOJ accused these companies of employing various tactics to restrict U.S. citizens from applying for jobs that were aimed at immigrant workers, for whom they were sponsoring permanent U.S. residency. Although both companies denied any wrongdoing, they consented to pay a total of $3.2 million, which includes a $1.2 million penalty, while the remaining $2 million is intended for restitution to U.S. citizens who may have been adversely affected, contingent on the DOJ’s findings.

The DOJ asserted that OpenAI and Statsig breached the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by failing to properly search for qualified U.S. citizens for these roles before pursuing permanent residency applications (PERM) as required by the INA. The DOJ highlighted that the companies did not post job listings on public job boards, advertised on late-night radio, and mandated paper applications instead of permitting electronic submissions.

Even though fewer than 10 positions were involved, the DOJ clarified that as part of the settlement, the companies must pay the fine and are subject to oversight from the department concerning their PERM hiring practices. This supervision includes developing and obtaining approval for their hiring policies related to PERM positions, in addition to submitting semiannual reports detailing the number of applications for foreign employees they pursued, how many U.S. citizens they interviewed, and other pertinent statistics.

OpenAI acquired Statsig, an AI A/B testing company, in September 2025 but partially divested from the business in May 2026. However, the DOJ indicated that its investigation into both firms commenced independently prior to the acquisition, starting in August 2025, which included five cases against OpenAI from 2023 to 2025 and one against Statsig.

According to the DOJ, this settlement is part of a broader initiative to intensify scrutiny of companies regarding this issue. Nevertheless, the INA, established in 1952, has been enforced against other major tech companies by previous administrations as well. For example, under President Biden’s leadership, both Facebook and Apple entered into similar settlements, although in those instances, the DOJ claimed that violations were widespread and systemic.