U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to defend the H-1B visa programme, saying America has to bring in talent from around the world as it does not have “certain talents” in the country.

“I agree but you also do have to bring in talent,” Mr. Trump said, responding to a question in an interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox News on whether the H-1B visa issue will not be a big priority for his administration and if one wants to raise wages for American workers, the country cannot be flooded with hundreds of thousands of foreign workers.

When Ms. Ingraham noted that “we have plenty of talent”, Mr. Trump said, “No, you don’t, 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’,” Mr. Trump added.

“In Georgia, they raided because they wanted illegal immigrants. They had people from South Korea that made batteries all their lives. You know, making batteries (is) very complicated. It’s not an easy thing, and very dangerous. A lot of explosions, lot of problems,” he said.

“They had, like 500-600 people, early stages to make batteries and to teach people how to do it. Well, they wanted them to get out of the country. You’re going to need that…I mean, I know you and I disagree on this.

What has the U.S. clarified on H-1B visas? | Explained

“You can’t just say a country is coming in, going to invest USD 10 billion to build a plant and going to take people off an unemployment line who haven’t worked in five years, and they’re going to start making missiles. It doesn’t work that way,” the President said.

The Trump administration has launched a massive crackdown to check abuse in the H-1B visa programme which is used by companies, particularly technology companies, to employ foreign workers in the U.S.

Indian professionals, including technology workers and physicians, are among the largest cohort of H-1B visa holders.

In September this year, Mr. Trump issued a Proclamation titled ‘Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers’ as an important initial step to reform the H-1B non-immigrant visa programme.

Under the Proclamation, certain H-1B petitions filed after September 21, 2025 must be accompanied by an additional USD 100,000 payment as a condition of eligibility.

Last week, the Trump administration launched about 175 investigations into H-1B visa abuse, including lapses such as low wages, work sites that didn’t exist and the practice of “benching” employees.

“As part of our mission to protect American Jobs, we’ve launched 175 investigations into H-1B abuse,” the US Department of Labour had said in a post on X.

It added that under the leadership of President Trump and Labour Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the agency will continue taking action to put American workers first.

Ms. Chavez-DeRemer said in a post on X that the Labour Department “is using every resource at our disposal to put a stop to H-1B abuse and protect American Jobs. Under the leadership of @POTUS, we’ll continue to invest in our workforce and ensure high-skilled job opportunities go to American Workers FIRST!”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is suing the Trump administration for imposing a $100,00 annual fee for new H-1B visa applications, claiming the fee is unlawful and would significantly harm U.S. businesses.

In a federal lawsuit filed on Thursday (October 16, 2025) in Washington D.C., the Chamber asks the court to declare that President Donald Trump exceeded the executive branch’s authority by imposing the fee and bloc federal government agencies from enforcing it.

H-1B visas are meant for high-skilled jobs that tech companies find hard to fill and are primarily associated with tech workers from India. Big tech companies are the biggest user of the visa, and nearly three-quarters of those approved are from India. But there are critical workers, like teachers and doctors, who fall outside that category.

The Trump administration announced the fee last month, arguing that employers were replacing American workers with cheaper talent from overseas. Since then, the White House has said the fee won’t apply to existing visa holders and offered a form to request exemptions from the charge.

In its lawsuit, the Chamber argues that the new fee violates the immigration laws that govern the H-1B program, including the requirement that fees be based on the costs incurred by the government in processing visas.

“The President has significant authority over the entry of noncitizens into the United States, but that authority is bounded by statute and cannot directly contradict laws passed by Congress,” according to the complaint, which names the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department and their respective cabinet secretaries as defendants.

Prior to Mr. Trump’s proclamation imposing the new fee, most H-1B visa applications cost less than $3,600, according to the Chamber.

“If implemented, that fee would inflict significant harm on American businesses, which would be forced to either dramatically increase their labor costs or hire fewer highly skilled employees for whom domestic replacements are not readily available,” according to the complaint.

The new fee is scheduled to expire after a year, but could be extended if the government determines that is in the interest of the United States to keep it.

Historically, H-1B visas have been doled out through lottery. This year, Amazon was by far the top recipient of H-1B visas with more than 10,000 awarded, followed by Tata Consultancy, Microsoft, Apple and Google. Geographically, California has the highest number of H-1B workers.

Critics say H-1B spots often go to entry-level jobs, rather than senior positions with unique skill requirements. And while the program isn’t supposed to undercut U.S. wages or displace U.S. workers, critics say companies can pay less by classifying jobs at the lowest skill levels, even if the specific workers hired have more experience.