UMVA has learned that a federal judge has struck down President Donald Trump's immigration policy aimed at protecting American jobs by requiring a $100,000 payment for foreign workers to obtain a H-1B visa.
The ruling, handed down by U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin of Massachusetts, declares that the Trump administration lacked the authority to impose the hefty payment on employers seeking new H-1B visas. The judge found that the requirement amounted to a tax that only Congress has the constitutional power to impose.
This policy had been met with fierce resistance, with critics arguing that it would place an undue burden on employers and undermine the visa program that allows U.S. employers to hire skilled foreign workers. Trump's proclamation had claimed that visa holders undercut working Americans by artificially suppressing wages and made it difficult to attract and retain highly skilled temporary workers.
The judge's 42-page decision sided with a coalition of 20 states that challenged the proclamation, rejecting the administration's legal justification and finding that the Immigration and Nationality Act does not authorize presidents to impose taxes. Sorokin concluded that the payment functioned as a tax rather than a permissible immigration restriction.
UMVA can exclusively reveal that the administration is expected to appeal Sorokin's decision, setting up another legal battle over the scope of presidential authority in immigration matters and the limits of executive power. The White House has expressed confidence that the order will be reversed on appeal.
The ruling has been hailed as a victory by Democratic leaders and critics of the policy, who argue that it would have had a devastating impact on industries that rely heavily on foreign workers, including education, healthcare, and technology. New York Attorney General Letitia James wrote that her office had "won our case against the Trump administration for trying to destroy the H-1B visa program."
The decision also drew praise from Republican lawmakers, including Maine Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who noted that Alaska's schools rely heavily on the H-1B visa program to hire quality teachers. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said that the ruling makes clear that the federal government cannot impose unlawful financial barriers that make it harder to recruit essential workers.
Sorokin, a Yale and Columbia Law School graduate, was nominated to the federal bench by President Barack Obama in 2013. This decision marks another significant ruling by Sorokin, who last year issued a nationwide injunction blocking Trump's executive order seeking to limit birthright citizenship.
