Washington, Nov 15
The White House defended the Trump administration’s H-1B visa policy, telling IANS that the $100,000 application fee is a “significant first step to stop abuses of the system.”

In an exclusive response to IANS, a White House spokesperson said that President Donald Trump has “done more than any president in modern history to tighten our immigration laws and put American workers first.”

“The $100,000 payment required to supplement new H1-B visa applications is a significant first step to stop abuses of the system and ensure American workers are no longer replaced by lower-paid foreign labor,” White House Spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told IANS.

She also highlighted the recently launched “Project Firewall” to investigate companies flouting the H-1B visa rules.

“The Department of Labor launched Project Firewall as a new enforcement initiate [initiative] to investigate companies that have abused the H1-B visa system.

The Trump administration is protecting American workers by restoring accountability in the H1-B process, ensuring that it is used to bring in only the highest-skilled foreign workers in speciality occupations and not low-wage workers that will displace Americans.” Rogers added.

The White House reaction comes days after US President Donald Trump defended the programme, saying it’s needed to import talent.

In an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Tuesday, Trump was asked if his administration planned to deprioritise H-1B visas. He replied, “you do have to bring in talent.”

When Ingraham countered, “We have plenty of talent,” Trump responded, “No you don’t.”

“You don't have certain talents….And people have to learn, you can't take people off an unemployment line and say, I'm going to put you into a factory. We're going to make missiles,” he added.

Trump's comment sparked an intense debate with leading Republican and conservative leaders demanding the scrapping of the visa programme.

On Friday, Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X, reiterating her plans to introduce a bill to “ban H1B visas in all sectors” except the medical profession.

“Ending H1B visas will also help the housing market. Ending H1B visas mean more jobs available for Americans and more homes available for Americans…When Americans have good paying jobs they will be able to buy homes as long as they don’t have to compete with legally imported labor on visas and rich powerful asset management companies,” she added.

However, a leading immigration expert in Washington told IANS that Greene's bill is

“one of the most efficient ways to hurt Americans,” and would lead to more "preventable deaths."

In an interview with IANS, Sarah Pierce, the Director of Social Policy at Third Way, a think tank, argued that Greene’s attempt to target the visa programme would “gut access to care overnight.”

“Slashing the flow of foreign workers, including the medical professionals her own communities rely on, would gut access to care overnight,” she added

$100,000 H-1B fee ‘significant step to stop abuse’: White House