The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued updated materials on “national origin discrimination and Anti-American bias” on November 19, 2025.
The resources include a one-page fact sheet (available in pdf or on the website) called “Discrimination Against American Workers Is Against The Law.” This document reiterates that the protection in Title VII from discrimination on the basis of national origin also protects Americans from such discrimination. The fact sheet defines disparate treatment, harassment, and retaliation, and specifically prohibits “discriminatory job advertisements”. Examples provided of discriminatory job advertisements include “ads that say the employer prefers or requires applicants from a particular country or with a particular visa status (for example, ‘H-1B preferred’ or ‘H-1B only’).”
Another component of the updated materials is the revised landing page on national origin discrimination. The page has been updated in accordance with the press release and fact sheet to clarify the prohibition on national origin discrimination does indeed protect Americans from discrimination on the basis of being American.
These updates align with previous communications from the EEOC about its priorities, including protecting American workers from anti-American bias.
Colleges and universities have been updating policies and procedures around responding to discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin, aligning with guidance and enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. This publication by the EEOC is a reminder that the Department of Education is not the only game in town when it comes to enforcing the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of national origin; remember that the EEOC enforces Title VII, which protects against discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin in employment settings. Schools are both employers and typically recipients of federal funds and so must navigate the Title VII and Title VI expectations at the same time. Luckily, the definitions are aligned.
From a practical standpoint, institutions should ensure that complaints of anti-American discrimination are to be understood as discrimination complaints on the basis of national origin and should be subject to existing nondiscrimination policies and procedures.