Seems like a good way to avoid the bad PR. This offer will be disproportionately taken by citizens and avoided by visa workers.

Can’t claim MS is firing citizens and replacing them with H1Bs, if they are leaving voluntarily.

I highly doubt it’s a factor. If we learned anything in the last 10 years, is that you can’t unflood the zone with facts. The administration is going to say what they are going to say and signal to their target audience. Corporations are going to do what they need to do. Their target audiences barely overlap.

I'm not aware of this. But if I were to speculate, maybe they feel some freedom because they thing the midterms will be a change.