Washington — The White House is defending the Trump administration’s proposed $100,000 H-1B visa application fee, calling it a necessary step to curb long-standing abuse of the skilled-worker program and to safeguard American jobs, according to NDTV.
In a statement to IANS, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said President Donald Trump has “done more than any president in modern history to tighten our immigration laws and put American workers first.” The six-figure fee, she argued, is meant to deter companies from using the program to hire lower-paid foreign workers in place of U.S. employees.
“The $100,000 payment required to supplement new H-1B 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 said.
She also pointed to a new enforcement initiative, Project Firewall, recently launched by the Department of Labor to investigate companies suspected of misusing the visa program. According to Rogers, the administration’s goal is to restore “accountability” to a system intended to attract only the highest-skilled specialists, not workers who could displace Americans in lower-wage roles.
The White House’s remarks follow days of political turbulence after Trump, in a Fox News interview, defended the need for certain kinds of foreign talent. Asked whether he would deprioritize H-1B visas, Trump replied, “You do have to bring in talent.” When host Laura Ingraham countered that “we have plenty of talent,” Trump disagreed: “No you don’t… You don’t have certain talents.”
His comments ignited a fierce debate among conservatives. Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene renewed her call to introduce legislation banning H-1B visas across all sectors except medicine, arguing that ending the program would open more jobs and even more homes for American citizens.
But immigration experts warn that eliminating the visas could backfire dramatically. Sarah Pierce, Director of Social Policy at the centrist think tank Third Way, told IANS such a proposal would be “one of the most efficient ways to hurt Americans.”
“Slashing the flow of foreign workers, including the medical professionals her own communities rely on, would gut access to care overnight,” Pierce said.
