Silicon Valley exec ignites firestorm after accusing JD Vance of bringing DEI back

Ankit Gupta, a general partner at Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator, is facing backlash after describing Vice President JD Vance’s call for American companies to "hire and train Americans" as a return of "DEI."

"In a win for the woke left DEI is back," Gupta wrote on X.

"No, Ankit. It’s called putting your own citizens first," Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito wrote, arguing that American companies should prioritize American jobs and workers. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon, and Nalin Haley, the son of former South Carolina Gov. and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, also publicly pushed back on Gupta’s framing.

Gupta’s X post came in response to Vance’s call for American corporations to hire and train American workers when they need employees. 

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Vice President JD Vance listens as a reporter asks a question in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, on Thursday, June 18, 2026, in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

"Y Combinator is a supposed champion of 'Little Tech' but perhaps they’re nothing more than a front for the far left," Ferguson wrote in response to Gupta's post, which has since become private after the CEO changed his social media settings, according to X. "I’m deeply uncomfortable with wealthy investors attacking American workers like this. I’m afraid it’s increasingly obvious to many people that individuals such as this guy do not have the best interests of America and her citizens in mind. The purpose of the American economy is to promote the general welfare of American workers, not provide jobs for the rest of the world."

Ferguson subsequently posted a screenshot of his X account, showing Gupta had blocked him amid the criticism.

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"It’s now DEI to train and hire Americans? Plenty of data to show that Americans are more than qualified, but corporate greed refuses to pay them respectable wages," Haley added on X following Gupta's post. "You can have a meritocracy in AMERICA but it has to apply to AMERICANS. Otherwise we’re just a globalist entity and not even a country anymore. Ban the H-1B Visa now!"

Fox News Digital reached out repeatedly to Y Combinator and Gupta for comment on his characterization but did not receive a response.

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 Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Andrew Ferguson speaks during the Semafor World Economy Summit 2025 at Conrad Washington on April 23, 2025. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

Dhillon, meanwhile, accused some technology companies and other employers of exploiting visa programs and hiring practices to obtain cheaper foreign labor for jobs she said Americans could perform, including by failing to advertise openings through regular channels and relying on staffing pipelines.

"These are not good business practices; they are not patriotic economic practices; and they are illegal labor practices," Dhillon wrote, adding that the Trump administration "will not allow American employers to discriminate against American workers."

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Dhillon added that the Justice Department, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Labor Department were working together to "level the playing field for U.S. workers."

Harmeet Dhillon speaks at the National Conservative Convention in Washington D.C., Sept. 2, 2025.  (Dominic Gwinn / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

The clash comes as the Trump administration pursues an overhaul of the H-1B visa program, which allows U.S. employers to hire temporary foreign workers in specialty occupations. The Trump administration’s 2025 effort to impose a $100,000 payment on new H-1B petitions through a presidential proclamation was blocked by a federal judge. The administration is now trying a different route, with the Department of Homeland Security proposing a formal rule that would establish a $103,265 fee for cap-subject petitions.

Construction workers juxtaposed beyond an image of an American flag. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

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The Labor Department has separately proposed changing how wages are calculated in H-1B and related visa programs. The department said the proposal is intended to curb incentives to hire foreign workers at below-market pay and to protect the wages and job opportunities of American workers.

Fox News Digital's Landon Mion contributed to this report.