A federal judge in Boston has struck down the Trump administration’s $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas, ruling that the executive branch exceeded its authority and imposed an unauthorized tax on employers.
The ruling, issued Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Leo Sorokin, sided with a coalition of 20 states that argued the policy violated the Administrative Procedure Act. TheGrio has reported on how the administration’s visa crackdown hit majority-Black countries including Nigeria, Jamaica, and Haiti when the State Department froze visa processing for 75 nations earlier this year, and theGrio also covered how Trump’s broader economic policies have disproportionately impacted Black workers and businesses. According to the Associated Press, Sorokin wrote that the policy “imposes a tax on H-1B petitions without the requisite delegation by Congress.”
The H-1B program is used by employers to hire high-skilled foreign workers in fields where qualified American workers are difficult to find. Nearly three-quarters of approvals go to workers from India, and technology companies are the biggest users. But states in the lawsuit argued the fee was already making it harder to hire doctors, teachers, and university researchers before Monday’s ruling.
“Today’s victory protects the integrity of the H-1B visa program as a tool to address severe labor shortages in vital industries like education, healthcare, and medical research,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a statement. The American Medical Association’s president Bobby Mukkamala called the ruling “a victory for patients,” adding that “international medical graduates play a vital role in caring for patients, particularly in underserved and rural areas.”
The Department of Homeland Security pushed back, calling the ruling “blatant judicial activism” and saying the agency “disagrees” with the decision. The White House said it is “confident this order will be reversed on appeal.”
Monday’s ruling contradicts an earlier federal court decision in Washington, D.C., that had left the higher fee in effect until at least September 2026. A third lawsuit filed in San Francisco by religious groups and labor organizations adds further complexity, setting up the possibility of divided rulings across three appellate court circuits.
