In Chamber of Commerce v. Department of Homeland Security, a district court has ruled in favor of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), finding that imposition of a $100,000 fee for new H-1B applications and related actions were legal under a Presidential Proclamation. “Defendants have the stronger position,” U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said. “The lawfulness of the Proclamation and its implementation rests on a straightforward reading of congressional statutes giving the President broad authority to regulate entry into the United States for immigrants and nonimmigrants alike.”
Judge Howell noted, “To be clear, this decision in favor of defendants is not to dismiss or discount the past and ongoing contributions of H-1B workers to the American economy that plaintiffs highlight. Important as those contributions may be, the effects of the H-1B program on the American economy or national security, whether positive or negative, are simply not at issue in this case. The Supreme Court has long maintained that matters of economic and foreign policy are generally entrusted to the political branches of government and ‘rarely proper subjects for judicial intervention.’ ”
Law360 Highlights Steve Yale-Loehr on a Pivotal Immigration Case – Steve was quoted by Law360 in The Legal Fights Set to Define Access to Justice in 2026. He said that although the Supreme Court has been largely deferential to President Trump on most immigration issues, the birthright citizenship case might present an opportunity to distance itself from his administration’s policies. “The court wants at least one case, I think, to show that it does have some independence from President Trump by ruling against him. I think this is an example of such a case,” he said.
