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www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know 18 COVER STORY June 12, 2026 T oday (June 5, 2026), Chief Judge John McConnell of the District of Rhode Island vacated four Depart- ment of Homeland Security (DHS) policies in Dorcas v. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). USCIS memoranda had frozen nearly all legal im- migration benefits—everything from work permits to visa petitions and naturaliza- tion—for citizens of 39 countries, primar- ily affecting people already in the United States. I had testified about this ban before the US Senate, calling it one of the largest immigration frauds in American history as it involved taking money from appli- cants without rendering the services they paid for. Even Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) was shocked at the brazen misconduct. I estimated that the agency had received over $1 billion in fees from the over two million applications that it was refusing to process. Under Director Joseph Edlow, USCIS has issued a series of policy memoranda that: • halted all asylum adjudications until March 30, 2026, when it restarted them for “non-high-risk countries”; • suspended adjudications on all benefit applications (green cards, work permits, and naturalization) for nationals of 39 countries; • ordered re-review of already-ap- proved benefits for those nationals who entered on or after January 20, 2021; and • directed adjudicators to treat an applicant’s country of origin as a “sig- nificant negative factor” in discretion- ary decisions. The court found that the policies were unlawful for the following reasons. First, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) uses mandatory “shall” language requiring USCIS to adjudicate asylum ap- plications within 180 days, naturalization applications within 120 days, and employ- ment authorization and adjustment of status applications pursuant to specific regulatory timelines. USCIS has no statu- tory authority to simply stop adjudicating. The court also found that Section 202 of the INA prohibits nationality-based dis- crimination for green card applicants. Second, Judge McConnell found three independent Administrative Procedure By David J. Bier, Cato Institute Judge Finds DHS Violated the Law By Freezing Legal Immigration - Continued On Page 20 Trump’s $100,000 Fee On H-1B Visas For Highly Skilled Workers Is Struck Down A federal judge threw out the Trump administration’s $100,000 fee on H-1B visas for highly skilled work- ers Monday, June 8, 2024, which had been challenged by California and 19 other states. In the 42-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin of Massachusetts declared President Donald Trump’s fee unlawful. He said the president unilater- ally imposed an illegal tax, bypassing Con- gress, and failed to consider the impact of his actions on sectors experiencing labor shortages that rely on the program to hire physicians, nurses and teachers. Trump’s “decision to implement a tax was not within his inherent constitutional powers,” or his authority under federal immigration laws, he wrote. The fee, which previously topped out at $5,000, led to fewer applications for H-1B workers, the judge said. The Trump administration is expected to appeal the ruling. “President Trump has clear legal authority to restrict entry of any class of aliens he determines is not in America’s best interests, and that is exactly what he did,” said Taylor Rogers, aWhite House spokeswoman. “The H-1B program has been abused for decades, and President Trump finally took action to fix it.” California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who led the multi-state coalition that filed the lawsuit last year, cheered the ruling, saying the visas will allow U.S. employers to fill jobs in industries such as health care that are experiencing labor shortages. “This tax was an attack on America’s ability to attract and retain the high- skilled talent that strengthens our economy and helps us meet critical work- force needs,” Bonta said in a statement. “California remains open for business, open to talent, and committed to ensuring our communities have essential services – from healthcare to education – that depend on a strong, skilled workforce.” Sorokin was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama in 2014. The fee, which applied to new applica- tions from abroad, not renewals, nar- rowed a major pathway for legal guest- workers that is widely used by Silicon Valley tech companies, as well as hospitals and universities. The measure is one of several initiatives the Trump administra- tion has taken over the last year to restrict legal immigration. The H-1B visa was created in the Immigration Act of 1990 to enable U.S. employers to hire foreign workers for jobs that require specialized knowledge. Proponents view the program as a way to burnish the United States’ competitive edge by recruiting experts from India, China and other countries to innovate and create jobs in the United States. Others have raised concerns about fraud and competition with U.S. workers. Federal law caps the number of H-1Bs issued each year at 65,000, with another 20,000 for those with advanced degrees from a U.S. university. Most workers are exempt from that limit because they are extending their visa or they work for non- profits that are not subject to the restric- tion, according to a report last year from the Congressional Research Service. In fiscal year 2023, the federal govern- ment approved more than 386,000 peti- tions for H-1B workers. Most were for men from India who worked in computer- related jobs, the report said. Other fields include architecture, engineering, and surveying as well as education-related jobs. Trump issued a proclamation in Sep- tember 2025 imposing the fee and citing the rising number of foreign workers in science and tech industries. White House officials reasoned that if companies badly needed new workers, they could afford to pay the higher fee. Trump alleged that the H-1B program has been “deliberately exploited to re- place, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor.” He noted that the number of foreign-born workers in science, technol- ogy, engineering and math had soared, “resulting in a disadvantageous labor market for American citizens.” But the states sued in December, argu- ing that the fee created a cost-prohibitive barrier to hiring workers in fields that require specialized experience. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also had challenged the fees in a separate law- suit, but the court sided with the Trump administration late last year. Proponents of the program hailed the judge’s decision Monday. FWD.us President Todd Schulte said Trump’s fee “would have harmed Ameri- can job and wage growth and hurt the quality of life of Americans.” He urged the White House to drop the plan. “For many years we have advocated to reform, improve and expand legal pathways for immigrants with specialized skills to come to the U.S., stay and fully contribute,” Schulte said in a statement. “That, rather than an excessive fee that is undermining our talent pipeline, is the correct approach.” -TheWashington Post By Lauren Kaori Gurley PHOTO:DESITALKTEAM H1B visa Representational Image by Desi Talk Team.