A federal judge had tough questions during a hearing Friday for attorneys representing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in a legal challenge to President Donald Trump’s new $100,000 fee hike on companies seeking to hire foreign workers on H-1B visas.
Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, an Obama appointee, sounded skeptical of the business organization’s request to either block enforcement of the presidential proclamation against its members or strike it down completely.
Trump signaled upon signing the proclamation the new policy was an attempt to encourage the hiring of American graduates from U.S. universities for high-skilled jobs and address national security concerns of hiring foreign workers for industries that engage in sensitive technologies.
