By Andrew Rice
The Center Square

The White House on Thursday vowed to fight legal challenges to President Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday that the fee is designed to protect American workers and prevent fraud in the H-1B visa system.

“The administration will fight these lawsuits in court,” Leavitt said. “The president’s main priority has always been to put American workers first and also to strengthen our visa system.”

Trump issued a proclamation proposing the $100,000 fee on Sept. 19. Since then, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a coalition of unions have filed respective lawsuits against the president’s fee implementation.

Both lawsuits argue Trump’s fee exceeds presidential authority because the law does not allow him to impose a fee on visa entry of certain immigrants.

Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act allows the president to “suspend the entry” of certain noncitizens under certain circumstances. Trump used this authority in his first term to restrict entry of certain immigrants from Muslim majority countries.

Trump’s proclamation cited wage suppression and fewer available jobs for American workers due to the prevalence of the H-1B program. The proclamation pointed to multiple studies displaying diminished wages and job opportunities in science and technology fields due to H-1B visas.

“We know for far too long the H-1B visa system has been spammed with fraud, basically, and that’s droven down American wages so the president wants to refine this system which is part of the reason he implemented these new policies,” Leavitt said.

The two lawsuits argue fees against H-1B organizations will hurt small businesses who rely on the program to recruit workers.

“If implemented, that fee would inflict significant harm on American businesses, which would be forced to either dramatically increase their labor costs or hire fewer highly skilled employees for whom domestic replacements are not readily available,” the Chamber of Commerce said in its lawsuit.

The coalition of unions also argued that hospitals, schools and religious organizations would be harmed by the fee. The lawsuit includes a pastor and postdoctoral researcher who live in the United States on work visas and are afraid the fee will impact their ability to continue working in the United States

“The government failed to consider harms to hospitals, churches, schools and universities, and small businesses and non-profits, or how the fee will harm communities across the nation,” the unions wrote in their lawsuit.

“These actions are lawful, they are necessary and we’ll continue to fight this battle in court,” Leavitt said on Thursday.