'You might try hiring...': JD Vance's solution to H-1B row as states challenge Donald Trump's $100K visa fee

Vice President JD Vance reacted to the new H-1B row as states now challenge the Donald Trump administration's $100,000 H-1B visa fee, and said the states can instead try hiring Americans. Vance was reacting to Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield's social media post on suing the new fee, calling it illegal. Dan Rayfield said the new fee would create a costly barrier for employers, especially public sector and government employers who can't pay such a fee if they want to hire from outside.

"You might try hiring Americans," the vice president posted, giving a solution to the H-1B problem Dan Rayfield raised.


"This is instructive, though. While I know there are many people in our coalition who--rightly--are angry about immigration fraud in our visa system, America Last Republicans and Democrats are teaming up to stop our efforts to address these issues. Don't black pill. Fight back," JD Vance said.



California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and Nevada are the 20 states challenging the H-1B visa fee.

"The $100,000 visa fee is devastating for all states, including Oregon, where the flagship universities consistently depend on H-1B visa holders to fill faculty, researcher, and staff roles. For example, Oregon State University currently sponsors more than 150 H-1B faculty, researchers, and staff, and intends to hire additional faculty, researchers, and staff through the H-1B program. Eliminating access to H-1B faculty, researchers, and staff would inflict significant institutional harm, depriving students of critical educational opportunities," Dan Rayfield said.

Rayfield said the University of Oregon sponsors more than 50 H-1B faculty, researchers and staff. An initial H-1B petition takes between $960 to $7,595 in regulatory and statutory fees. "The Trump Administration’s $100,000 fee far exceeds the actual cost of processing H-1B petitions. By imposing this fee, the Administration is exceeding the fee-setting authority granted by Congress, which requires that fees be set based on the agency’s costs, rather than arbitrarily," Rayfield said.

When JD Vance said H-1B didn't make any sense to him

JD Vance is known for his strong stand against H-1B. Recently, he rapped tech companies for laying off Americans and hiring foreigners. He said it did not make any sense to him. "You see some big tech companies where they'll lay off 9,000 workers, and then they'll apply for a bunch of overseas visas. And I sort of wonder; that doesn't totally make sense to me. That displacement and that math worries me a bit. And what the president has said, he said very clearly: We want the very best and the brightest to make America their home. We want them to build great companies and so forth. But I don't want companies to fire 9,000 American workers and then to go and say, 'We can't find workers here in America.' That's a bullshit story," Vance said earlier this year.