Amid the ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration in the US, several independent journalists have taken up the task of exposing fraud by H-1B workers. One such New Jersey-based firm, exposed by Blaze TV reporter Sarah Gonzales, was recently fined by the Justice Department for illegal recruiting practices. The DOJ announced that it had reached a settlement with Companel Software Group Inc., according to which, the company indicated its intention to hire employees based on citizenship status, specifically favoring H-1B visa holders or related temporary employment-based visa holders. According to the department’s press release, the professional services provider violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) when its recruiters posted job advertisements for positions in the US that included citizenship status restrictions not authorized by law. An email sent to the “charging party” indicated that the company wanted “only” temporary visa holders for a particular position. Gonzalez, a reporter for the far-right media company Blaze Media, initially ‘exposed’ the company on LinkedIn for posting job roles with the criteria of ‘H-1B workers only’. “Following my February report on illegal discrimination against American workers, the DOJ has taken action against at least one of the companies I exposed,” he wrote while sharing the news on X.Now, the firm has agreed to pay $58,000 to the charging party, a US citizen who was excluded from consideration for the position of Python developer based on his citizenship status. In addition, it has agreed to pay a civil penalty in the amount of $255,420 to the US Treasury and have taken steps to train and monitor its recruiters. Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division Harmeet K. Dhillon said, “It is illegal to discourage American workers from applying for American jobs. Employers cannot exclude American workers from the labor force by discriminating based on their citizenship status. Employers must design hiring, training, and compliance practices to ensure they comply with federal civil rights laws.” This is the ninth settlement granted by the DOJ since the revival of its Protecting US Workers Initiative implementing the INA Act in 2025.