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www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know 5 SPECIAL REPORT January 2, 2026 Trump Officials Move To Screen Visa Applicants’ Posts For ‘Anti-American’ Speech Trump’s $100,000 H-1B Visa Application Fee Upheld By Judge “People are free to make whatever statements they want on social media or anywhere else, and anyone who does not support the same candidate that I support, that’s not what we’re talking about here,” the agency’s director, Joseph Edlow, told CBS News in October. “We’re talking about beyond the pale. We’re talking about people actively supporting the violent overthrow of this country or otherwise providing material support to ter- rorist organizations across the world.” Edlow spoke a day after the State Department re- voked the visas of a half-dozen foreign nationals – from Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Paraguay and South Africa – who purportedly “celebrated” Kirk’s death. The department said that “the United States has no obliga- tion to host foreigners who wish death on Americans.” Nhlamulo Baloyi, a South African music executive, was among them. He wrote on X that “Charlie Kirk won’t be remembered as a hero” and said Kirk led a “move- ment of white nationalist trailer trash.” Baloyi, 35, who once worked for a Sony Music sub- sidiary based in NewYork, has been outspoken online about anti-Black racism and his country’s history of ra- cial apartheid. In a phone interview, he said right-wing Afrikaners have flagged and reported his posts in an effort to get him banned from X and other social media platforms. Baloyi suggested that noncitizens in the United States must seriously “consider holding their tongues” or risk being expelled and losing their right to live and work in this country. But he also pointed to virulent online criti- cism from U.S. citizens aimed at former vice president Dick Cheney after his death this month and suggested foreigners are being held to a double standard. “I don’t think anything I might have said about Char- lie Kirk is remotely equated to the attacks Dick Cheney has faced,” Baloyi said. Naidu, the Columbia professor, is from Canada and is married to an American. He had been active on X, shar- ing his thoughts on a range of economic and political topics with more than 16,000 followers. He deleted his account after Trump was elected last year over concerns that discussing political issues could adversely affect his citizenship application. It was approved in July, but he has not rejoined X. “I’m less nervous about it. But just overall being at Columbia and Columbia being in the crosshairs – my content would not be the most offensive to the adminis- tration, but why risk it?” Naidu said. Nicole M. Bennett, a researcher at Indiana University who studies the federal government’s approach to data governance and digital technologies, called social media the “new front line” in immigration enforcement – one that is expanding into around-the-clock monitoring. Powered by artificial intelligence, new search tools have the potential to vastly expand investigations beyond an immediate target and surveil people around them who had not been suspected of wrongdoing, including family members, friends or co-workers, she said. “If you’re in a video, you could be pulled into that dragnet, and maybe they find something because they are looking,” Bennett said. “The biggest change is that instead of an investigation being based on evidence, the investigation is based on correlated data.” Hamdi said his agreement with the State Department to leave the country voluntarily does not prohibit him from applying for reentry to the United States, and he is determined to give it a try. But he acknowledged that other foreigners might think twice. Pointing to soccer’s World Cup in U.S. cities next summer, Hamdi expressed concern for fans who come to root for their teams. “What happens if a fan waves a Palestinian flag at a stadium – does that mean they will have their visa revoked?” he said. “And if their visa is revoked without notifying the individual, does that mean they could wind up in detention, too?” A federal judge said the Trump administration can move ahead with a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications, providing a setback for US technology companies that rely on hiring skilled foreign workers. US District Judge Beryl Howell said in a ruling Tuesday (December 23, 2025) that President Donald Trump’s effort to radically increase the cost of the popular visa is lawful. The decision gives a boost to the administration’s campaign to re- strict immigration and push demand for US workers. The US Chamber of Com- merce, which sued to block the proposal, can appeal. Howell rejected the Chamber’s argument that Trump doesn’t have the power to impose the fee, finding that his proclamation was issued under “an express statutory grant of authority to the President.” Congress has given the president broad authority that he used to address “in the manner he sees fit, a problem he perceives to be a matter of economic and national security,” she wrote. Daryl Joseffer, the Chamber’s execu- tive vice president, said in a statement the $100,000 fee makes H-1B visas cost prohibitive. “We are disappointed in the court’s decision and are considering further legal options to ensure that the H-1B visa pro- gram can operate as Congress intended: to enable American businesses of all sizes to access the global talent they need to grow their operations,” Joseffer said. The Chamber, the nation’s largest business lobbying group, argued in its October lawsuit that raising the fee is unlawful because it overrides federal im- migration law and exceeds the fee-setting authority afforded by Congress. A group of 19 state attorneys general also is challenging Trump’s proclamation. Their lawsuit focuses on the projected impact to the public sector, particularly in the fields of health care and education, that also rely on the H-1B visa program. A separate suit was filed by a global nurse- staffing agency. The ruling Tuesday, a so-called sum- mary judgment that doesn’t require a trial, doesn’t have an impact on the other lawsuits, meaning another judge could still block the new visa fee in the months to come. The other cases include a suit filed in Massachusetts earlier this month by more than a dozen mostly Demo- cratic-led states, as well as a suit filed in October in California by a global nurse- staffing agency and several unions. Both of the other cases are also being handled by Obama appointees, and nei- ther judge has yet ruled on any requests for injunctions against the rule. A hearing in the California case is set for Feb. 12 in Oakland. The dispute is likely to ulti- mately be resolved by the US Supreme Court. The H-1B visa program is a corner- stone of employment-based immigra- tion, allowing companies in the US to hire college-educated foreign workers for specialized occupations. In September, Trump signed a proclamation to increase the application fee to discourage com- panies from abusing a program that he claimed displaces US workers. It’s a stark shift from America’s histori- cal stance toward immigration. Since its founding, the US has welcomed people from diverse countries and economic backgrounds who come to the US in search of a better life and more freedom. Yet while Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have mused about the prospects of a windfall for the US Treasury that could total $100 billion or more, immigration attorneys have cautioned that an increase in cost of this magnitude would cause major disrup- tions that would be likely very expensive to the US economy. “This puts a chilling effect on Amer- ica’s employers,” said Michael Wildes, a managing partner at the NewYork-based immigration law firmWildes andWein- berg PC. “How can you make America great by taking away the talent pool?” Wildes noted that “it’s a limiting law in that America will skip a beat. There will be a generation of talent out there in the world that will go to other countries. We will be missing an opportunity and that is foolhardy.” Also on Tuesday, the US Department of Homeland Security said it will re- place the lottery for choosing H-1B visa applicants with a weighted selection to overcome wage arbitrage and incentiv- ize American employers “to petition for higher-paid, higher-skilled foreign workers.” There are also proposals being considered to impose a wage floor. H-1B visas are awarded based on a lot- tery system, but are used primarily in the tech industry. Amazon, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Microsoft, Meta Platforms Inc. and Apple Inc. are among the com- panies with the greatest number of H-1B visas, according to the US government. The visa fees will shape hiring efforts, but affect some jobs and companies more than others, said Alexis DuFresne, founder of recruiting firm Archer Search Partners, which specializes in recruit- ment for alternative financial asset managers. For “superstars” in highly-paid, spe- cialized roles, or for jobs that generate a lot of revenue, organizations will be will- ing to pay the $100,000 fee, she said. But the high cost will change how people making hiring decisions approach looking for employees in more run-of- the-mill jobs, DuFresne said. “If you’re going to search, you’re going to tell the search people ‘Don’t look globally for me. Look domestically for me,’” she said of such common jobs. Likewise, organizations with offices around the world will be able to respond to the recruitment costs by shifting where they hire, according to DuFresne. “The firms that it’s going to affect the most are the smaller firms,” she said. The tech industry has been adapting to changes in US immigration rules for a while now as political currents shift. Alphabet Inc.’s Google is taking steps to help move employees off of H-1B visas and onto more permanent status. The company recently told staff it will be “ramping up” PERM applications next year for eligible employees, Business Insider reported, taking a crucial step to securing a green card, which allows them to live and work permanently in the US. Beyond the US tech companies, the action also hits India hard, as Indians have been the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B visa program. In addition to the extra costs that Indian IT companies will bear for thousands of employees on such visas, the ongoing unpredictability has unnerved many Indian professionals working in US tech, finance, health care and other industries, especially after the recent mass postponement of work-visa appointments. The case is Chamber of Commerce vs. US Department of Homeland Security, 25-cv-03675, US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington). --With assistance from Jake Bleiberg, Erik Larson and Patrick Howell O’Neill. -Bloomberg -Continued From Page 4 By Madlin Mekelburg