A federal judge in Massachusetts has dismantled one of President Donald Trump’s most aggressive immigration moves, ruling on June 8, 2026, that his $100,000 fee on H-1B visas amounts to an unlawful tax that Congress never sanctioned. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, vacated the policy in its entirety and handed a sweeping victory to 20 Democratic state attorneys general who challenged it.
The fee, which Trump announced in September 2025, dramatically increased the cost of obtaining an H-1B visa from the typical $2,000 to $5,000 range to a staggering $100,000. The visas serve as a crucial pipeline for technology companies, universities, hospitals and other employers seeking highly skilled foreign workers. The federal government issues 65,000 such visas each year, plus an additional 20,000 reserved for workers with advanced degrees.
The Tax Question at the Heart of the Ruling
Writing from Boston, Sorokin determined that while the Immigration and Nationality Act grants presidents broad authority over the entry of noncitizens, it does not extend to the power to levy taxes.
“The substance and application of the $100,000 payment reveal that it is a tax, regardless of what the payment is called,” Sorokin wrote.
The Trump administration argued it had authority to impose the charge as a financial penalty, invoking the president’s power to restrict entry of foreigners deemed “detrimental to the interests of the United States.” Sorokin rejected that argument, ruling that federal agencies had violated the Administrative Procedure Act by bypassing notice-and-comment rule making. He cited a February 2026 Supreme Court ruling that determined tariffs Trump imposed in 2025 were taxes and that the president lacked authority to impose them.
“While the Executive has broad discretion over the admission and exclusion of aliens, … that discretion is not boundless,” Sorokin wrote, adding that the policy “imposes a tax on H-1B petitions without the requisite delegation by Congress.”
Immediate Disruption and Panic
Court filings reveal that the policy caused immediate chaos. Few employers were willing to absorb the six-figure charge, and fear spread rapidly through affected communities. On a Dubai-bound Emirates flight in San Francisco, some passengers demanded to get off the plane, fearful they would be locked out of the country if they left.
The September proclamation that introduced the fee argued that H-1B holders undercut American workers by suppressing wages and that science, technology, engineering and math fields were being saturated by foreign labor. Meanwhile, the administration simultaneously launched a parallel track for the ultrawealthy. Trump championed a “Gold Card” visa on September 19, 2025, allowing wealthy foreigners and corporations expedited entry to the United States for a $1 million payment.
A MAGA Civil War Over Foreign Talent
The ruling arrives amid an ongoing internal battle within Trump’s political coalition. Silicon Valley conservatives, including Elon Musk, a former visa holder himself, contend that foreign engineers and scientists are essential to maintaining American dominance in artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing. Nationalist hardliners view the program as a wage-suppression mechanism. Steve Bannon has portrayed H-1B as a tool for replacing American workers with cheaper foreign labor, while Fox News host Laura Ingraham has maintained that companies exploit the visas to sidestep U.S. graduates.
Trump angered his base during an October 2025 interview with Ingraham when he defended the visa, acknowledging the country lacked sufficient talented workers. He reinforced that position at a U.S.-Saudi investment forum, citing massive chip manufacturing projects in Arizona that depend on imported expertise to proceed.
Another Judicial Setback
The decision represents the latest in a series of judicial defeats for Trump’s immigration agenda. In 2025, Sorokin became the fourth judge to issue a nationwide injunction against Trump’s executive order attempting to limit birthright citizenship, determining the policy likely violated the 14th Amendment. That case has since advanced to the Supreme Court, where a ruling is anticipated.
The White House signaled it would appeal. Spokesperson Taylor Rogers said that Trump has clear legal authority to restrict entry of any class of aliens he determines is not in America’s best interests. Trump himself was blunter Monday evening. “These federal judges are really giving us a hard time,” he said. “They’re hurting our country very badly.”
Since returning to office, Trump has pursued an aggressive immigration crackdown featuring stricter visa rules, expanded deportation initiatives and efforts to curtail asylum access. The coming appeal of Sorokin’s H-1B decision will once again examine the boundaries of executive power and its collision with the Constitution’s explicit assignment of taxing authority to Congress.