California and a coalition of 19 other states are suing the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump over a new policy that imposes a $100,000 fee on H‑1B visa petitions, Attorney General Rob Bonta said Friday.
The Trump administration announced in September that it would require the fee, arguing the nonimmigrant visa program has been “deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower‑paid, lower‑skilled labor.”
In their lawsuit, Bonta and the Democratic‑led coalition contend the policy, implemented by the Department of Homeland Security, violates federal law and creates a costly barrier for employers.
“As the world’s fourth‑largest economy, California knows that when skilled talent from around the world joins our workforce, it drives our state forward,” Bonta said, calling the fee an “unnecessary and illegal financial burden” on public employers and providers of vital services.
Bonta and Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell are leading the effort, joined by attorneys general from Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin and other states.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of the nation’s largest business groups, filed its own legal challenge in October seeking to block the plan.