AA Edit | Trump’s Fresh H1-B Play
Unlike the previous proposal for the $100,000 fee, the current one makes the H-1B visa difficult for the foreigners who are already living in the United States. Such broader tightening of wage, eligibility and scrutiny requirements could make employment visas harder to obtain even for foreign graduates and professionals
Despite repeated legal reversals, US President Donald Trump appears unwilling to reconsider his administration’s relentless campaign against immigration. Each time a court strikes down one measure, the Trump administration seems to search for another route to achieve almost the same objective.
The White House is now planning to introduce a fee exceeding $103,265 for new H-1B petitions after a federal court declared an earlier presidentially imposed levy unlawful. The proposed fee, according to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, would help cover the costs of multiple federal agencies under the Homeland Security department — a legal alibi for defending a patently discriminatory treatment of this category of immigrant visa.
Unlike the previous proposal for the $100,000 fee, the current one makes the H-1B visa difficult for the foreigners who are already living in the United States. Such broader tightening of wage, eligibility and scrutiny requirements could make employment visas harder to obtain even for foreign graduates and professionals.
Every government is duty-bound to prioritise the welfare of its citizens and its country over foreigners. However, the Trump administration has produced no scientific study or evidence to show that the United States can meet the staffing requirements of its booming technology industry, without tapping the overseas talent.
Only days ago, another federal court struck down the administration’s suspension of immigrant visas for citizens of 75 countries. Yet, instead of absorbing the message, the administration has reportedly prepared to revoke as many as 200,000 B1 business and B2 tourist visas held by people who have applied for asylum.
This step goes against the United States’ long projected image as the leader of the free world. As the leader, the US has a special obligation to treat those escaping tyrannical regimes with humanity. While border control is a sovereign right, collective suspicion is not sound policy. A powerful democracy must enforce its laws without extinguishing the compassion and responsibility that give those laws legitimacy.