BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts on Monday struck down President Trump's $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa petitions, ruling that the levy is an unauthorized tax the executive branch had no power to impose on its own.

U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin, sitting in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, set the $100,000 payment requirement aside under the federal Administrative Procedure Act, finding that it violated the law that governs how administrative agencies issue and enforce rules. Trump had imposed the fee by presidential proclamation in September 2025, and it applied to new H-1B petitions for skilled foreign workers.

"The substance and application of the $100,000 payment reveal that it is a tax, regardless of what the payment is called," Sorokin wrote. "There are no statutory powers authorizing [the Trump administration] to implement a $100,000 tax on H-1B petitions."

Sorokin, an appointee of President Barack Obama who took the bench in 2014, added: "The President has no authority to levy a tax unless such a power is delegated by Congress through statute."

The lawsuit was filed in December 2025 by a coalition of 20 Democratic-led states, with California as the lead plaintiff. The states argued the $100,000 fee was an unauthorized tax the Trump administration had no statutory authority to impose, and that it violated the Administrative Procedure Act because it had not gone through formal notice-and-comment rulemaking.

The Trump administration's position throughout the case was that the fee was a "regulatory payment," not a tax, and was within the President's discretion. The administration argued the H-1B program had been "deliberately exploited to replace American workers" and that the higher fee would encourage employers to hire domestic talent in high-skilled fields.

The Department of Homeland Security said it would appeal. In a statement Monday, DHS called Sorokin's ruling "blatant judicial activism" and said the department remained committed to protecting American workers from displacement by foreign labor.

Judge Sorokin's order sets aside the $100,000 fee requirement entirely, pending appeal. The case is expected to move to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. New H-1B petitions filed after the order would no longer be subject to the $100,000 fee unless and until a higher court reinstates it.

The H-1B program permits U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations — most commonly software engineers, scientists and university researchers — and has been a recurring flashpoint in the U.S. immigration policy debate over whether the program helps or hurts American workers.