California and 19 other US states filed a lawsuit on Friday seeking to block President Donald Trump’s USD100,000 fee on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers, according to a report by Reuters.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is leading the 20-state coalition lawsuit, calling the policy unlawful and warning it could disrupt sectors that rely on skilled foreign workers.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court, argues that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) imposed the fee outside the bounds of congressional authority and bypassed required notice-and-comment procedures. Bonta’s office said the fee, more than 10 times the typical H-1B cost, would place significant strain on schools, universities, and hospitals that depend on H-1B employees.

The H-1B program

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