Since the beginning of Donald Trump’s second term in January, legal disputes have continued over his administration’s policies, especially with Democratic states. This time, an important immigration policy of the Trump administration, the $1,00,000 fee increase on H-1B visas, is going to be challenged in court by 19 states. These include California, New York, Illinois and other states.

Lawsuit over H-1B visa fee increase
California and other states have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration. The H-1B program allows US employers to hire foreign workers for specialized occupations, as described by the US Department of Labor.

California Attorney General Rob Banta wrote on Twitter that Trump’s illegal new $100,000 H-1B visa fee could hinder the recruitment of teachers, physicians, researchers, nurses and other critical workers and jeopardize California’s ability to provide essential services. According to a press release from Banta’s office, this new fee could pose a costly barrier to employers, especially public and government institutions, who are trying to fill these positions.

When and where will the case be filed
According to Reuters report, this lawsuit will be filed on Friday (local time) and will be presented in the Federal Court of Massachusetts. This will be at least the third legal challenge. Earlier this increased fee was challenged by the US Chamber of Commerce and a coalition of unions, employers and religious groups.

What is this policy?
According to Banta’s office, the lawsuit states that this policy, implemented by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is a clear violation of the law. This is because it imposes burdensome fees outside the limits authorized by Congress, goes against the intent of Congress in establishing the H-1B program, bypasses essential rulemaking processes, and exceeds the power granted to the executive branch under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

Generally, the H-1B visa fee is set by DHS under the APA’s notice and comment process and is limited to the amount necessary to carry out the agency’s work. The lawsuit says that while an employer typically pays fees ranging from $960 to $7,595 when filing an initial H-1B petition, the new increased fee far exceeds the actual cost.

Banta’s statement
“No president can arbitrarily destabilize our schools, hospitals and universities, and no president can ignore Congress, the Constitution or the law,” Banta said at a press conference on Friday.

charge of disregard of procedure
The states also alleged that the increased fees were issued without the notice-and-comment process required by the APA and did not fully consider the impacts, particularly on the delivery of critical services by government and non-profit entities.

State filing suit
Besides California, the other states are: Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Attorneys General of California Rob Banta and Joey Campbell of Massachusetts are leading attorneys general of other states in filing the lawsuit.

Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is becoming increasingly popular across the world, has now come under controversy. While on one hand companies are working towards increasing productivity and reducing costs through AI, on the other hand, tech giant Google has been seriously accused of tracking personal information of users through its AI assistant “Gemini”.

what is the whole matter

A lawsuit filed in San Jose Federal Court in California claims that Google used the Gemini AI assistant to secretly track users’ private communication data — such as Gmail, Chat and Meet.

The affidavit said that earlier on these platforms, users were given the option to “turn on” the AI ​​programs, but in October 2025, Alphabet Inc. turned Gemini “on” by default in all these applications without any notice. In this process, users’ personal data – emails, attachments and chat history – was accessed without their permission.

Threat to users’ privacy

The petition also states that Google has given users the option to “turn off” Gemini, but this option is hidden deep inside the privacy settings, where it is difficult for a normal user to access. Unless the user manually deactivates this tool, Google will continue to have access to all his emails and attachments.

The petitioners have alleged that Google has violated the “California Invasion of Privacy Act” enacted in 1967. This law prohibits recording or accessing private communications without the consent of all parties.

What is Gemini AI?

Gemini is Google’s advanced AI assistant, which is designed for tasks like chatting, composing emails, meeting summaries and data analysis. The company claims that Gemini has been created for the “convenience of users”, but now it has faced serious allegations of privacy violation. The court has issued a notice to Google and asked it to give clarification on this matter. If the allegations are proved, this case will not only prove to be a big blow to Google’s reputation, but can also give a new turn to the global debate regarding AI data privacy.

While on one hand AI is making the work of humans easier, on the other hand questions on the privacy of users are continuously increasing. Now it remains to be seen in which direction the court’s decision takes this AI controversy.

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