The plaintiff U.S. states in the lawsuit are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. The U.S. government agency defendants are the Department of Homeland Security, State Department, Department of Labor, and Department of Justice.
The September 19 proclamation, as implemented, prohibits the approval of H-1B petitions filed after September 20, 2025 if the petition is filed for, or only approvable for, consular notification, unless their employer has paid a $100,000 fee for each subject employee, the employer has been granted a national interest exception to the entry restrictions, or the employee is otherwise not subject to the fee.
The new lawsuit alleges that U.S. government policies implementing the proclamation violate the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) for lack of notice and comment rulemaking; exceed APA authority by assessing immigration fees that bear no connection to any costs borne by the collecting agency; and are arbitrary and capricious in their manner of implementation. The suit also alleges that the $100,000 fee policy violates the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers.
The suit follows two earlier lawsuits – one brought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in October, Chamber of Commerce v. DHS, Case No. 1:25-cv-03675 (D.D.C., filed October 16, 2025), and an earlier case, Global Nurse Force v. Trump, Case No. 3:25-cv-08454 (N.D. Ca., filed October 3, 2025) – both of which challenge the proclamation on similar, though not identical, grounds. Plaintiffs in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce lawsuit are seeking a preliminary injunction that would temporarily bar U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services from imposing the $100,000 fee while the legality of the proclamation and related policies are litigated. A district court hearing on the preliminary injunction in U.S. Chamber of Commerce will be held on December 19, 2025.
