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Trump’s Immigration Reset: H-1B and Gold Card Orders Put America First
American Thinker ^ | September 23, 2025 | Brian C. Joondeph

Posted on 09/23/2025 3:53:11 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

President Donald Trump’s two recent executive orders, one imposing a $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visas and the other launching the “Gold Card” fast-track residency program, represent the most significant immigration reforms in decades. 

Trump immigration illustration

Image by ChatGPT

They flip the incentive structure that has for years favored multinational corporations and global outsourcing firms over American workers, while also tackling long-ignored national security risks.

As a policy, open borders is one area where Democrats and many Republicans agree. Democrats want new voters, while the Chamber of Commerce and Wall Street Journal Republicans want cheap labor. President George W. Bush, backed by Senator John McCain, in 2007, pushed for “comprehensive immigration reform,” a euphemism for amnesty, for millions of illegal aliens, which fortunately failed a US Senate vote.

Enter President Trump, the only president in my lifetime who has recognized that America has a sovereign border. Even President Reagan failed to repair our dysfunctional immigration system. He signed an amnesty bill into law, which NPR heralded as “a Reagan legacy,” and it unsurprisingly turned California from a red to a blue state. No wonder NPR loved it.

The H-1B program was initially created to help U.S. companies fill rare, high-skilled roles when American expertise was unavailable.

However, in practice, it has become a pathway for cheap foreign labor. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), in 2022, the top 30 H-1B employers brought in 34,000 new visa workers even as they laid off at least 85,000 Americans. From MAGA to making the rest of the world great again.

The proportion of IT workers on H-1Bs has risen from 32% in 2003 to over 65% today, even as unemployment among recent computer science graduates remains above six percent,...

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: h1b

1 posted on 09/23/2025 3:53:11 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Time for H1-B style tariffs on illegal alien workers everywhere.

You can't find an American to work the cash register at your fast-food place? Fine. 25K USD per illegal, so you don't have to falsify I-9 paperwork.

No Americans want to pick your lettuce? Fine. 25K USD per stoop labor worker and you can bring 'em all in.

Oh, by the way, you are also responsible for any property damage or unpaid taxes they leave behind.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

2 posted on 09/23/2025 3:59:27 PM PDT by Bernard (Issue an annual budget. And Issue a federal government balance sheet. Let's see what we got.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Except the H1B is not an annual fee, won’t happen for 3 years when Trump is out of office and the guy with the Indian wife is his successor. Total bait and switch.


3 posted on 09/23/2025 4:21:26 PM PDT by HYPOCRACY (Wake up, smell the cat food in your bank account. )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I love it!!


4 posted on 09/23/2025 4:33:33 PM PDT by albie
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Trump’s Immigration Reset: H-1B and Gold Card Orders Put America First

Trump's EO does little to address the H-1B problem IMHO. Consider:

As of January 2025, there are approximately 730,000 H-1B visa holders in the U.S.

$100,000 Fee FOR NEW H-1B Petitions: The most prominent change is the ONE-TIME $100,000 fee for most new H-1B visa petitions. This fee applies to petitions filed on or after September 21, 2025, for beneficiaries who are currently outside the United States.

EXEMPTIONS to the Fee: An exception to the $100,000 fee exists for H-1B workers in roles, companies, or industries deemed to be "in the national interest and does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the United States".

NO IMPACT ON CURRENT H-1B HOLDERS OR RENEWALS: The new fee does not apply to individuals who already hold valid H-1B visas, renewals, or petitions filed before September 21, 2025

5 posted on 09/23/2025 5:02:56 PM PDT by JesusIsLord
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To: HYPOCRACY
On September 19, 2025, President Donald Trump issued a Proclamation restricting the entry of certain nonimmigrant workers, introducing a new $100,000 payment requirement for employers filing new H‑1B petitions. US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Customs and Border Protection, and the Department of State have confirmed the Proclamation applies prospectively only to petitions filed on or after 12:01 a.m. ET, September 21, 2025.

It's already gone into effect - it's just not retroactive.

6 posted on 09/23/2025 5:14:17 PM PDT by GOPJ (Charlie Kirk worried democrats would murder his children. <P><I><B><big><center></B>)
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To: GOPJ

https://x.com/ImperiumFirst/status/1969537953425678563?t=l9MGNhvUUvbyO89nxu_vFw&s=19

Not an annual fee. Applies to next lottery. Completely different from what Lutnik said. This is a bait and switch and will not stop the flood of trash.


7 posted on 09/23/2025 5:22:41 PM PDT by HYPOCRACY (Wake up, smell the cat food in your bank account. )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Require that all H1-Bs are paid salaries in the top 10% of their career fields at all times. The abuse of the H1-B visa to undercut salaries for American workers will end.


8 posted on 09/23/2025 6:26:32 PM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: Bernard

The H-1b visa is for WHITE. COLLOR IT JOBS.


9 posted on 09/23/2025 6:41:06 PM PDT by central_va ( I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

What it really does is make it look like everything is for sale in the USA. Privilege for money.


10 posted on 09/23/2025 7:17:51 PM PDT by rottweiller_inc (Lupus urbem intravit. Fulminis ictu vultures super turrem exanimat.)
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To: Bernard
Time for H1-Bs to be sent back to their own country.
11 posted on 09/23/2025 7:34:54 PM PDT by Bikkuri (We are all Charlie now. I am Charlie!)
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