Trump honors Microsoft’s CEO after Vance drops an H-1B visa hammer on the company

Reported by ABC News. The paragraphs below are the opening of that article, reproduced word for word — not a summary, and not the whole piece.

President Donald Trump celebrated tech billionaires such as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at an event with arguably awkward timing

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump celebrated tech billionaires for their contributions to America on Thursday only hours after a company run by one of them, Microsoft, was accused by his vice president of abusing the visa system to bring in more foreign workers. It so happens five of the six leaders he honored are immigrants.

Before the ceremony that recognized Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Vice President JD Vance announced at a news conference that the tech company was being suspended from a program that allows companies to apply for green cards for skilled foreign workers with H-1B visas.

The crackdown on Microsoft revealed the tension between the companies that power U.S. economic growth and the administration's efforts to reduce immigration. Trump's team insists it's possible to spot the superstar immigrants who could lead groundbreaking companies and that hiring unexceptional foreigners had hurt U.S. workers.

“Our message to Microsoft is: You’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” Vance told a news conference. He said the company had abused the visa system. “You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants.”

Vance said Microsoft last year fired 6,000 U.S. workers but also obtained 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards.