20 Democrat AGs Sue To Stop $100K H1B Visa Fees

Apparently they prefer foreign workers over Americans getting the jobs

20 states lodge lawsuit against Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Friday that he and 19 other states are suing the Trump administration over its policy to hike fees on new H-1B visa petitions to $100,000.

Bonta claimed that the increases for the skilled-worker visa are illegal because they exceed what Congress has authorized and undermine its intent in establishing the program. All of the states joining the lawsuit have Democratic attorneys general.

“No presidential administration can rewrite immigration law,” Bonta said at a press conference in San Francisco. “No president can ignore the co-equal branch of government of Congress, ignore the Constitution, or ignore the law.”

Obama and Biden did that all the time. I’m not saying it’s right, but, many actions of the two had zero statutory authorization from Congressional bills. Heck, Congress often writes bills that are extremely broad and give the Executive Branch incredibly wide latitude to create rules and regs out of thin air. Where the hell did the contraceptive mandate come from? There is zero language in the Obamacare bill authorizing it.

Obama enacted all the stuff for Dreamers despite being pretty much un-Constitutional, and Democrats and their pet media said nothing.

The largest users of the visas are major tech companies bringing in high-skilled foreign workers, which MAGA Republicans have accused of abusing the program to pass over Americans for cheaper labor. But Bonta argued the fees will also worsen labor shortages within other important sectors to the state economy by making it more difficult to fill spots for physicians, researchers, teachers, nurses and public service employees.

How about pushing the kiddies into these disciplines, instead of getting worthless degrees that often end in “Studies” and put them in massive student loan debt? Anyhow, I’ve read about a dozen articles, none note which are all the states, other than New York and Massachusetts. Glad Democrats are fighting for Americans, eh?

The H1B authorization may or may not be legal, but, in a story about the Chamber Of Commerce lawsuit (shouldn’t they be advocating for American workers?)

First, DOJ argues that plaintiffs’ claims are foreclosed by “the longstanding doctrine of nonreviewability, which bars judicial review of the Executive’s discretionary determination under the INA to restrict the entry of aliens into the United States.” Later in the response, DOJ points to the “principles of consular nonreviewability,” writing that “The Supreme Court has long held that ‘[t]he admission and exclusion of foreign nationals is a fundamental sovereign attribute’ that is ‘largely immune from judicial control.’”

Second, DOJ states that plaintiffs do not have a cause of action under the Administrative Procedure Act because “it is well-settled that (1) the President is not subject to suit under the APA and (2) his statutory authority to regulate or restrict the entry of aliens into the United States derives explicitly from 8 U.S.C. §§ 1182(f) and 1185(a).” The DOJ response adds, “Moreover, that authority is entirely discretionary, and judicial review to challenge such discretionary actions is unavailable via an ultra vires claim or the APA.”

Third, the response argues that the proclamation “does not conflict with any provision of the INA [Immigration and Nationality Act]” and “simply adds an additional restriction on the entry of a class of aliens to further a key national interest: protecting American workers and national security.” The final DOJ argument: “Any claim by Plaintiffs that implementation of the Proclamation is procedurally deficient because it did not go through APA notice-and-comment rulemaking fails because Defendants have merely implemented what the Proclamation requires.”

So, basically the DOJ is not necessarily saying that the fee is authorized, just that there can be no judicial review on it.