A federal judge in Boston on Monday struck down a $100,000 fee that former US President Donald Trump imposed on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers, concluding that it constituted an unlawful tax that Congress never authorized.
Ruling Details
District Judge Leo Sorokin issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed by 20 Democratic state attorneys general challenging the fee, which Trump announced in September and dramatically raised the cost of obtaining H-1B visas. The administration argued that the fee was a lawful monetary penalty that the president was authorized to impose under federal immigration law, which gives him the power to restrict the entry of certain foreign nationals when he deems it "detrimental to the interests of the United States."
However, Sorokin concluded that the fee was not a penalty but a tax that the Republican president lacked any authorization from Congress to issue. He also ruled that the US State Department and US Citizenship and Immigration Services could not implement the fee.
Legal Analysis
"Here, the substance and application of the $100,000 payment reveal that it is a tax, regardless of what the payment is called," wrote Sorokin, who was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama. The judge cited the US Supreme Court's February ruling striking down Trump's sweeping tariffs, which were pursued under a law meant for use in national emergencies. Under the logic of the justices' decision in that case, Trump similarly had no authority under immigration law to levy a tax, Sorokin said.
The ruling blocks the implementation of the fee, which would have significantly increased costs for businesses hiring foreign talent under the H-1B visa program. The program is widely used by technology companies to bring in skilled workers from abroad.
