President dramatically raised cost of visa for highly skilled workers in executive order last year
A US judge has invalidated Donald Trump’s $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa applications, ruling it an unlawful tax that violated federal administrative law and the constitution.
US district judge Leo Sorokin in Boston issued the 42-page ruling in a lawsuit filed by 20 Democratic state attorneys general challenging a fee Trump announced in September that dramatically raised the cost of obtaining H-1B visas… The ruling vacated the sweeping fee, which was a 20-to-50 fold increase on existing rates, and the Trump administration is widely expected to appeal.
In his ruling, Sorokin’s found that the fee amounted to a tax, rather than a regulatory restriction. Since the constitution gives Congress, not the president, the exclusive power to levy taxes, Trump lacked the authority to impose it.
If he actually drove a review of H1B visas with a view of preferring domestic workers, I expect he’d get support. He just bulldozered into it though, screw the law. Same as everything else.
Its just him looking like he is doing something about it. His tech bros would be big mad with him if he started cutting back on H1Bs.