And with it go the hopes of thousands, perhaps millions, of aspiring refugees seeking what was once the American dream for themselves and their children. Because that dream has also vanished.

A portion of Emma Lazarus’ sonnet, “The New Colossus,” is inscribed on a bronze plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty:

Perhaps it should be replaced with a new plaque reading:

“Give me your White, your straight,
Your wealthy masses who can pay the fee.”

Because now — in addition to his mad frenzy of deporting, not only the “worst of the worst” as he describes them, but also the best of the best if they happen to be Hispanic, Latino, Middle Eastern, African, Asian, or Mediterranean — Donald Trump has signed an executive order mandating that even educated, highly-skilled foreign workers who manage to meet his racist standards will only be applicable for H-1B work visas upon payment of a $100,000 annual fee by their prospective employers.

According to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, the fee would only apply to new requests, but the companies would be obligated to pay the same amount for each applicant annually for six years. In his words:

“The company needs to decide … is the person valuable enough to have a $100,000-a-year payment to the government, or they should head home, and they should go hire an American. All of the big companies are on board.” [Bernd Debusmann, Jr. and Danielle Kaye, BBC, September 20, 2025.]

However, White House Press Secretary What’s-Her-Name issued a correction on social media, stating that the $100,000 fee would actually be a one-time payment. Apparently, as the order was signed over the weekend and goes into effect immediately (today), Secretary Lutnick hasn’t had time to familiarize himself with a program for which he is responsible.

Another fine example of our tax dollars at work.

In a separate order, Trump also established a new “gold card” to fast-track visas for certain wealthy immigrants in exchange for fees beginning at the low, low cost of One Million Dollars. That’s $1,000,000 — with six zeros — to be paid by the individual, or $2,000,000 if sponsored by a corporation.

All right, so a one-time fee sounds a bit better. But it still prices out of the market those smaller enterprises that now rely on foreign workers to fill jobs for which there is a shortage of American applicants. Even the biggest corporations, like Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google — for whom $100,000 doesn’t seem like a steep price — would be seriously impacted because of the large numbers of H-1B workers they employ. And, contrary to Lutnick’s allegation that “all of the big companies are on board,” they’re not necessarily happy about it.

Attorney Tahmina Watson of Watson Immigration Law told the BBC that this ruling might be a “nail in the coffin” for many of her small-business and start-up clients:

“Almost everyone’s going to be priced out. This $100,000 as an entry point is going to have a devastating impact,” . . . as many small or medium-sized companies . . . “will tell you they actually can’t find workers to do the job. When employers sponsor foreign talent, more often than not, they’re doing that because they have not been able to fulfil [sic] those positions.” [Id.]

Trump claims that his goal is to open up more job opportunities for U.S. citizens. But if those citizens are not applying for the positions now — likely because they lack the specific requisite education and skills — what makes him think they’re going to be qualified to apply for them later? Does he have some sort of massive, government-financed training program in mind? And how long would it take to train someone like . . . oh, say, me . . . to develop AI technology, or design next year’s Tesla, or perform surgery?

Trump should ask himself where the U.S. space program would have been without Wernher von Braun. Or the study of modern physics without Albert Einstein. Is he convinced the next Einstein or von Braun is hiding somewhere in a small midwestern town just waiting for a job opening? Or does he plan to re-educate his Proud Boys and other MAGA followers?

Does he really believe that people can simply be retrofitted to serve any need? Perhaps he’d like to try his own hand at quantum mechanics. I’d pay to see that.

The largest beneficiaries of H-1B visas last year were India and China, accounting for 71% and 11.7%, respectively, of total approved applications. Nasscom — India’s leading non-governmental trade association and advocacy group — has said that it is concerned by the order, and that the one-day deadline creates “considerable uncertainty for businesses, professionals, and students across the world.” [Id.]

Even the world’s richest man — former Trump BFF Elon Musk — has long supported the existing H-1B visa program, arguing that it allows the United States to attract top talent from around the world (much like himself, in fact). Perhaps Trump isn’t aware that those visas are issued to well-educated, highly-skilled scientists, engineers, medical practitioners and the like, who have firm job offers in place before coming to the U.S. Maybe he’s thinking in terms of laborers, food service workers, and nannies . . . who, by the way, are every bit as essential to our economy and our society as any Einstein or Musk.

And he obviously hasn’t thought far enough ahead to envision the effect his brainstorm will have on the country as a whole. As Jorge Lopez, chairman of the immigration and global mobility practice group at Littler Mendelson PC, said:

“[A $100,000 fee] will put the brakes on American competitiveness in the tech sector and all industries.” [Id.]

This whole idea has clearly not been well thought out by the stable genius in the White House — that is, unless it is actually his intention to turn the United States into a third-world country.

In which case, he’s doing a great job.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
9/21/25