(The Center Square)\u00a0\u2013 Democratic attorneys general from California and 18 other states sued the Trump administration Friday over its new $100,000 fee on H-1B visas.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump imposed the rule Sept. 19 for new petitions for the nonimmigrant visas, which\u00a0allow U.S. employers to hire temporary, foreign workers in response to labor shortages among physicians, surgeons, researchers, educators, nurses and other vital workers.<\/p>\n
The new fee will make it more difficult for health care centers, schools, universities and others to hire workers, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said during a news conference Friday morning in San Francisco. He said it will make current labor shortages worse.<\/p>\n
Bonta and Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell are co-leading the coalition of states in the suit, which is California’s 49th one this year against the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
Bonta said the new fee violates the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act’s notice-and-comment process.<\/p>\n
The Center Square Friday reached out to the White House, which commented on the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Trump promised to put American workers first, and his commonsense action on H-1B visas does just that by discouraging companies from spamming the system and driving down American wages, while providing certainty to employers who need to bring the best talent from overseas,\u201d White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told The Center Square in an email. \u201cThe Administration\u2019s actions are lawful and are a necessary, initial, incremental step towards necessary reforms to the H-1B program.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Center Square also reached out to the U.S. departments of Homeland Security and Labor, but did not hear back before press time.<\/p>\n
Bonta noted the visas allow employers such as schools, hospitals, universities\u00a0 and research institutions to hire highly skilled workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cCalifornia, like every other state, needs more teachers, more nurses, more doctors,\u201d the California attorney general said. \u201cThere is a shortage of supply in those professions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bonta’s office said employers filing H-1B petitions typically pay between $960 and $7,595 in regulatory and statutory fees.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Attorney General Bonta Announces New Legal Action Against the Trump Administration<\/p>\n
December 12, 2025<\/p>\n
Source: California Department of Justice<\/p>\n
Bonta said the $100,000 far exceeds processing costs and call the new fee\u00a0an \u201cunnecessary obstacle\u201d to hiring the workers America needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe consequences for California would be devastating,\u201d Bonta said. \u201cWe\u2019re already facing a nationwide teacher shortage. Last year 74% of U.S. school districts struggled to fill open positions, especially in areas such as special education, foreign language and STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] fields. Nearly 30,000 educators nationwide hold H-1B visas.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd hundreds of colleges and universities rely on them to support instruction and support research,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPublic schools, many of which operate on very tight budgets, can\u2019t absorb an extra $100,000 for hire,\u201d Bonta said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe health care sector is equally at risk,\u201d he said, noting rural communities would be especially hit by the loss of workers. He said patients would see\u00a0\u201clonger wait times, reduced access to care, growing health disparities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bonta said Congress didn\u2019t authorize Trump to impose the new $100,000 fee.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo presidential administration can rewrite immigration law,\u201d the attorney general said. \u201cNo president can destabilize our schools, our hospitals, our universities on a whim. And no president can ignore the co-equal branch of government, the Congress; the Constitution or ignore the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides California, states filing the lawsuit are Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.<\/p>\n
In other litigation news, Democratic attorneys general praised this week\u2019s federal ruling that blocked the Trump administration\u2019s attempt to close a Federal Emergency Management Agency program designed to protect communities from natural disasters before they strike.<\/p>\n
Democrats won their suit to protect FEMA\u2019s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program. Those filing the suit included attorneys general from Arizona and California.<\/p>\n