ASU responds to federal inquiry into visa usage following VP Vance comments

PHOENIX - Arizona State University is one of nine major institutions under scrutiny over its use of visas.

What we know:

Vice President J.D. Vance specifically mentioned ASU during a news conference when he shifted from talking about the H-1B visa program to J-1 visas. The vice president says several of the nation's "most elite universities" are relying on the J-1 program to bring in foreign workers at the expense of American researchers' wages.

Big picture view:

In addition to ASU, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, University of Pittsburgh, UC Davis, Caltech, and MIT are being investigated by a newly formed strike team. Vice President Vance says the nine schools use J-1 visas for about 61% of federally funded research positions, compared to a national average of about 38%.

"Something weird is going on at these universities. They're using these visas way too much. They're using them to undercut the wages of American grad students and American researchers, and it simply has to stop," Vance said.

The other side:

In a statement to FOX 10, ASU says:

"As one of the largest research universities in the United States. Arizona State University educates more STEM majors than any other university, and employs one of the largest technical and scientific workforces in the country. This benefits both the Arizona and the United States economies, and in doing so, ASU has hired the talent needed to perform these functions, and done so in complete compliance with existing United States policy and law."

What's next:

U.S. Department of Labor Inspector General Anthony D'Esposito says subpoenas have already been served.