US district court backs Trump on $100K H-1B entry-fee, citing broad immigration powers

A US district court judge has upheld President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a $100,000 entry-fee on new H-1B visa workers hired from outside the US, delivering a significant legal win to the administration’s assertion of broad executive authority over immigration.In an order issued on Tuesday night, Judge Beryl A. Howell, of the Columbia district court, rejected a legal challenge brought by the US Chamber of Commerce, holding that the proclamation fell squarely within powers granted to the President under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The court denied the business lobby’s request to block the fee and granted a summary judgment in favour of the Trump administration.Trump had announced the steep levy through a September 19 proclamation, triggering sharp concern among businesses that rely on foreign talent for specialised roles.The Chamber had argued that the new fee is unlawful because it overrides provisions of the INA that govern the H-1B program, including the requirement that fees be based on the costs incurred by the government in processing visas. It had also pointed out that the administrative procedures such as a public notice and inviting public comments had been bypassed.Rejecting those claims, Judge Howell said the Trump administration had met the conditions necessary to invoke statutory authority allowing the President to restrict entry of foreign nationals deemed detrimental to US interests. “The lawfulness of the Proclamation and its implementation rests on a straightforward reading of congressional statutes giving the President broad authority to regulate entry into the United States for immigrants and nonimmigrants alike,” her order stated.The Judge added that disputes over the policy’s wisdom lay outside the court’s remit. “So long as the actions dictated by the policy decision and articulated in the Proclamation fit within the confines of the law, the Proclamation must be upheld,” Judge Howell said.Following the proclamation, in Oct federal immigration agencies had issued a clarification diluting the impact to an extent. The clarification provided that fee would apply only to new H-1B petitions filed for workers hired from abroad, and not to existing H-1B employees or foreign students already in the US who transition to H-1B status from within the US.In response to the verdict, Daryl Joseffer, Executive Vice President and Chief Counsel of the US Chamber of Commerce, issued a statement, “The $100,000 fee makes H-1B visas cost prohibitive for businesses, especially small- and medium-sized businesses that can least afford it. We are disappointed in the court’s decision and are considering further legal options to ensure that the H-1B visa program can operate as Congress intended: to enable American businesses of all sizes to access the global talent they need to grow their operations.” The lawsuit was one of the three filed against the entry-fee. Global Nurse Force with a coalition of US healthcare providers, educational institutions and others was the first to challenge the entry-fee by filing a law suit in the US District Court (Northern District of California). More recently, California and Massachusetts Attorneys General Rob Bonta and Andrea Joy Campbell, respectively, led a group of 20 Democratic‑led states in filing a law suit challenging this fee. Immigration attorneys state that all is not lost, especially since these other cases have different grounds of arguments.