This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The federal government has begun investigating abuse in the H-1B visa program, which allows companies to hire foreigners at below-scale salaries after claiming there are no available American workers for the positions.

That program has been documented to have replaced tens of thousands of high-tech American workers with foreigners at lower pay.

But now the review also includes allegations that companies have not been paying even foreigners the salaries offered, thus pushing wages for Americans down, too.

The Times of India, in a nation that sends thousands of workers annually into the program in America, was fretting over the development.

It noted the U.S. Department of Labor has launched at least 175 new investigations into those potential H-1B abuses.

And there are "a bounty of concerns ranging from wage mismatch to work site location," the report said.

The report said some foreigners with advanced degrees are paid far less than what was advertised by the companies, pushing down wages for similarly situated Americans.

"This is the tip of the iceberg as other investigations found that several employers grossly flouted H-1B rules — did not notify the US Citizenship and Immigration Services when an H-1B visa holder was terminated," the report said.

According to reporting from the Blaze, the update concerned what's been called "Project Firewall."

"Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said that the Department of Labor is 'using every resource at our disposal to put a stop to H-1B abuse and protect American Jobs. Under the leadership of @POTUS, we'll continue to invest in our workforce and ensure high-skilled job opportunities go to American Workers FIRST!,'" the report said.

Virgil Bierschwale, a leading critic of H-1B visas and their impact on American workers, told Fox, "I can quickly bring that up to 32,000 companies being investigated if you have the manpower."

The abuse by companies replacing American workers with foreigners has been more and more in the news of late, and the Trump administration announced plans to have companies pay $100,000 for new H-1B visas to create an incentive to hiring Americans.