White House to Fight Cases Alleging Abuse of H-1B Program

 

 

P.P. Cherian

Washington, DC— The Trump administration is preparing to defend its controversial new H-1B visa policy in federal court, following a series of lawsuits challenging the $100,000 fee imposed on new visa applicants. The administration argues that the fee increase is a necessary step to protect American jobs and restore the integrity of the skilled worker program.

Speaking to reporters on October 23, White House Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt confirmed the administration’s position. “The administration will fight these cases in court,” Leavitt asserted.

Leavitt said the H-1B program has been widely abused, adding, “For too long, the H-1B visa system has been riddled with fraud, which has driven down American wages.” She made it clear that the new policies are intended to address these systemic issues, stating that the president “wants to reform the system, and that’s one of the reasons he’s implemented these new policies.”

A White House spokesman concluded her defense by underlining the legality of the administration’s action. “These actions are legal, they are necessary, and we will continue to fight this fight in court,” she affirmed.

Leavitt’s comments come amid significant opposition from the business and education sectors. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has filed a high-profile legal challenge to the administration’s proposal.

The chamber argues that the new $100,000 fee is illegal because it goes beyond the requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Specifically, the lawsuit argues that the fee structure is illegal because the INA requires such fees to be based on the government’s actual costs of processing visas, which significantly exceed the six-figure fee.

In addition to the chamber’s filing, a broad coalition of unions, employers, educators and religious groups have filed separate lawsuits in federal courts in Washington, D.C. and California. The groups argue that the fees are “arbitrary and capricious” and that they will hurt critical U.S. industries that rely on highly skilled foreign talent, including the tech sector, where companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Google heavily use the H-1B program.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has warned that the higher fees could make it less cost-effective for many U.S. employers — especially small and medium-sized businesses — to hire global talent, potentially forcing companies to scale back or abandon the H-1B program altogether.