“No presidential administration can rewrite immigration law,” Bonta said during a press conference. “No president can ignore the co-equal branch of government, of Congress, ignore the Constitution, or ignore the law.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that he and 19 other states are suing the Trump administration over a recently-introduced proposal that would increase H-1B visa fees to $100,000.
“The $100,000 visa fee is devastating for all states, including California, and threatens the quality of education, health care and other core services available to our residents,” Bonta said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
Bonta alleges that the Trump administration’s revised fee schedule is unlawful because the scope of the proposed change exceeds what Congress authorized.
“No presidential administration can rewrite immigration law,” Bonta said during a press conference. “No president can ignore the co-equal branch of government, of Congress, ignore the Constitution, or ignore the law.”
POLITICO notes that technology companies are the driving force behind most H-1B applications. Whereas the Trump administration claims that the H-1B visa program undercuts American labor, Bonta argues that the increased fee will worsen labor shortages in other fields, making it more difficult to find qualified doctors, college professors, and teachers.
“If hospitals and clinics must either pay an extra $100,000 per doctor to leave positions unfilled, the consequences are clear: fewer providers, longer wait times, reduced access to care and growing health disparities,” Bonta said.“We are going to court to defend California’s residents and their access to the world-class universities, schools, and hospitals that make Californians proud to call this state home.”
Bonta also indicated that the Trump administration’s plans remain ambiguous: it appears that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem could retain significant discretion in deciding who should, and shouldn’t be, exempt from the $100,000 fee.
The Trump administration has since defended the policy, saying that higher fees help put Americans in American jobs.
“President Trump promised to put American workers first, and his commonsense action on H-1B visas does just that by discouraging companies from spamming the system and driving down American wages, while providing certainty to employers who need to bring the best talent from overseas,” White House spokesman Taylor Rogers said in a statement.
The San Francisco Standard notes that the extent of the H-1B visa program remains limited. Under federal law, only about 65,000 H-1B visas can be awarded to private-sector applicants each year, with an additional 20,000 H-1B visas provided for workers with advanced degrees. Certain government and non-profit employers are exempt from this cap, which Bonta and his allies say reflects Congress’s intent that the program be primarily used to serve public institutions.
Sources
20 states lodge lawsuit against Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee
California among 20 states suing Trump administration over $100K fee for H-1B visa
California sues Trump administration over $100K visa fee for skilled workers
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