Trump Administration Defends $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee as Essential Measure to Protect American Workers

The White House has defended the Trump administration's H-1B visa policy, stating that the $100,000 application fee represents a "significant first step to stop abuses of the system."

In an exclusive response to IANS, a White House spokesperson emphasized that President Donald Trump has "done more than any president in modern history to tighten our immigration laws and put American workers first."

White House Spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told IANS, "The $100,000 payment required to supplement new H1-B visa applications is a significant first step to stop abuses of the system and ensure American workers are no longer replaced by lower-paid foreign labor."

Rogers highlighted the recently launched "Project Firewall" designed to investigate companies that violate H-1B visa regulations.

She explained, "The Department of Labor launched Project Firewall as a new enforcement initiative to investigate companies that have abused the H1-B visa system. The Trump administration is protecting American workers by restoring accountability in the H1-B process, ensuring that it is used to bring in only the highest-skilled foreign workers in speciality occupations and not low-wage workers that will displace Americans."

The White House statement comes shortly after US President Donald Trump defended the program during an interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham, where he stated the necessity to "bring in talent."

When Ingraham suggested, "We have plenty of talent," Trump disagreed, responding, "No you don't." He elaborated, "You don't have certain talents....And people have to learn, you can't take people off an unemployment line and say, I'm going to put you into a factory. We're going to make missiles."

Trump's remarks sparked significant debate among Republican and conservative leaders, with some calling for the elimination of the visa program.

Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X about her intention to introduce legislation to "ban H1B visas in all sectors" except the medical profession.

Greene claimed, "Ending H1B visas will also help the housing market. Ending H1B visas mean more jobs available for Americans and more homes available for Americans...When Americans have good paying jobs they will be able to buy homes as long as they don't have to compete with legally imported labor on visas and rich powerful asset management companies."

However, Sarah Pierce, the Director of Social Policy at Third Way think tank, told IANS that Greene's proposed bill would be "one of the most efficient ways to hurt Americans," potentially leading to more "preventable deaths."

Pierce argued that targeting the visa program would "gut access to care overnight," adding, "Slashing the flow of foreign workers, including the medical professionals her own communities rely on, would gut access to care overnight."