A federal judge just slapped down Trump’s $100,000 H‑1B visa charge as an illegal tax, raising big questions about who really controls the power to tax in Washington.
Story Snapshot
- A Massachusetts federal judge ruled Trump’s $100,000 H‑1B payment is an unauthorized tax, not a fee.[1][2][3][4]
- The court said Congress never gave the president power to levy such a tax through immigration law.[1][2][3][4]
- A coalition of 20 states led by California brought the case and won a nationwide vacatur of the policy.[2][3][4][5]
- The ruling clashes with an earlier Washington, D.C. decision that upheld the same Trump proclamation, setting up a legal showdown.[3][4][6]
Judge Says Trump Crossed the Line from Fee to Unlawful Tax
U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin in Massachusetts ruled that the Trump administration’s $100,000 charge on new H‑1B visa petitions “amounts to a tax, not a penalty,” and that the executive branch has no authority to create such a tax without Congress.[1][2][3][4] The judge stressed that the Immigration and Nationality Act lets presidents set “restrictions” and “regulations” on entry, but those words do not include the power to tax.[1][3] He concluded, “There are no statutory powers authorizing Defendants to implement a $100,000 tax on H‑1B petitions.”[1][2][4]
According to coverage of the ruling, the judge also found that agencies failed to follow basic rulemaking steps under the Administrative Procedure Act, and did not reasonably explain why a charge at this level was necessary.[1][2][3][4] He noted that nothing in the record tied the $100,000 amount to the real cost of processing visa petitions, which undercut the claim that this was simply an administrative fee.[1][2][4] Because of those legal flaws, he declared the entire policy unlawful and vacated it nationwide, immediately ending the requirement.[1][2][4]
Twenty States Take on Washington over Tax Power
The case, California v. Mullin, began when a coalition of 20 states led by California sued the Trump administration, arguing that the president had reached into Congress’s exclusive power to tax.[3][4][5] These states said the $100,000 payment was not a normal filing fee but a massive financial wall that employers had to pay directly into the U.S. Treasury before petitions would even be processed.[3][4][5] They argued that such a huge charge, far above normal costs, functioned as a revenue‑raising device that only Congress can authorize.[3][4][5]
Normal H‑1B employer costs are already in the low thousands of dollars per worker, with typical total filing fees around $2,000 for smaller employers and under $3,500 for larger ones.[4] By contrast, the Trump proclamation piled an extra $100,000 per petition on top of that, making it dozens of times higher than usual statutory and processing fees.[4] Court summaries note that the payment had to be made through the U.S. Treasury system, signaling that it operated more like a tax payment than a charge to cover administrative work.[3][4] Judge Sorokin agreed that this structure confirmed the states’ concern about an illegal tax.[1][2][3][4]
Dueling Courts: One Strikes the Fee, Another Upholds It
This new Massachusetts decision directly conflicts with an earlier ruling from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which upheld the same $100,000 requirement under the September 19, 2025 presidential proclamation.[3][6] In that case, brought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the D.C. court found that the proclamation rested on a “straightforward reading” of immigration statutes that give the president broad authority to regulate entry of immigrants and non‑immigrants.[6] The judge there said the proclamation was issued under an “express statutory grant of authority” and was not beyond the president’s powers.[6]
The D.C. court also rejected claims that the policy violated the Administrative Procedure Act, reasoning that once the proclamation itself was lawful, the agencies’ role in carrying it out was limited and ministerial.[6] Commentators note that the government fully prevailed on the merits in that case, and that the legality of the fee remained on appeal.[6] Now, with Judge Sorokin’s ruling cutting the other way, the same $100,000 charge sits on opposite sides of a growing judicial split: one court endorsing the president’s broad entry power, another insisting that taxation remains a line the White House cannot cross without Congress.[1][2][3][4][6]
What the Ruling Means for Fees, Immigration, and Separation of Powers
The Massachusetts court drew a sharp line between normal user fees and a tax‑like exaction, stressing that a fee should be tied to actual service costs, not used to raise massive sums or push broad social goals.[1][2][3][4] Reports on Trump’s own remarks showed he had pitched the $100,000 charge as a way to generate “hundreds of billions of dollars” and help reduce taxes and debt, language that fits a revenue tool more than a cost‑recovery fee.[2] That framing made it easier for challengers to argue he was using immigration powers to create a shadow tax policy.[2][3]
Court Kills the $100K Visa Fee: Federal Judge Blocks Trump's Massive H-1B Hike
A U.S. federal judge has struck down the Trump administration’s $100,000 H-1B visa application fee, declaring it an illegal tax that unconstitutionally bypassed Congress. Siding with 20 states that…
— TechShots (@techshotsapp) June 9, 2026
Analysts point out that the fight over this H‑1B charge is part of a larger pattern where presidents of both parties stretch immigration and emergency statutes to impose big economic burdens, and courts then must decide whether those are valid conditions on entry or disguised taxes beyond executive authority.[1][3][4] The Massachusetts ruling sends a clear signal that even a strong president cannot bypass Congress when it comes to raising revenue, while the D.C. decision shows how far some judges are willing to read immigration statutes to support aggressive action.[3][4][6] Future appeals will likely decide where that constitutional line is finally drawn.
Sources:
[1] Web – Federal Court Invalidates Trump’s $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee as Ilegal …
[2] Web – Federal Court Upholds H-1B Visa $100,000 Fee Proclamation
[3] Web – Court Upholds $100000 Fee on H-1B Visas
[4] Web – USCIS Clarifies the $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee | CDF Labor Law LLP
[5] Web – H-1B Visa and Employment-Based Green Card Filing Fees …
[6] YouTube – Expert’s take on 20 US states sue administration over H-1B fee hike
