With one declaration, President Donald Trump upended an aspect of our immigration system.

Last week, Trump announced that the US would begin imposing a $100,000 fee for all new H-1B visa applications — that is, the visa that high-skill foreign professionals use to work in the US. By hiking the fee to such an exorbitant sum, Trump hopes to compel companies to turn to high-skill American workers instead – not to mention bring in revenue.

“We’re going to take that money and we’re going to reduce taxes, we’re going to reduce debt,” he said. Workers in tech, finance, medicine, and science make up the majority of the 85,000 people awarded H-1B visas each year.

It’s the latest plank in the administration’s restrictive immigration policy, one that the administration argues will benefit American

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