An Obama-appointed federal judge has blocked Donald Trump's efforts to raise the fee for H-1B visas to $100,000. In a brutal blow to Trump's efforts to curtail the hiring of foreign labor, District Judge Leo Sorokin ruled that the Trump policy amounted to an unlawful tax. Sorokin's decision settled a case brought by 20 blue states against the Trump administration. Drawing in part on SCOTUS's decision defending Obamacare's individual mandate as a tax and not a penalty, Sorokin concluded that the H-1B fee was also a tax, writing that the 'defendants' arguments to the contrary are unpersuasive.'

'These federal judges are really giving us a hard time,' Trump told reporters in New York when asked about the ruling on Monday night . 'They're hurting our country very badly.' In September of last year, Trump signed a proclamation establishing a fee of $100,000 for companies who wished to hire via the H-1B visa program . The tech sector was widely expected to feel the biggest impact of the change. Seventy-two percent of H-1B holders are from India, followed by 12 percent from China, according to data from US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

H-1B visas allow employers to obtain permission for noncitizens to work specialty jobs, typically for a three-year period (though extensions up to six years are permissible). Employers are required to apply on behalf of their desired employee. Prior to Trump's proclamation, employers could have been required to pay several thousand dollars in fees. The price hike was specifically intended to reduce the number of H-1B visas being issued. 'American workers are being replaced with lower-paid foreign labor, creating an economic and national security threat,' said a White House fact sheet published at the signing of the proclamation.

H-1B visas have been the subject of controversy in the past, publicly dividing Republicans. House Republican Greg Steube introduced legislation in February seeking to abolish the H-1B program. 'American workers have been ripped off by the corrupt H-1B visa program for far too long,' Steube wrote on X. 'Corporations have repeatedly abused this system to help their bottom line by importing cheaper foreign labor which has suppressed wages and left millions of Americans locked out of good-paying jobs.' Steube again pushed his H-1B legislation on social media Tuesday. Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, described Sorokin's ruling as a 'welcome relief,' citing her state's need to import teachers for rural school districts.