No Progress on Government Shutdown, Jeopardizing Military Paychecks

Headline USA Editor
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No Progress on Government Shutdown, Jeopardizing Military Paychecks

(, The Center Square) Democratic U.S. Senators voted against opening the federal government for a sixth time Wednesday afternoon, dimming hopes that Congress will reach a funding deal in time for thousands of federal workers to receive their next paychecks.

It’s day eight of the partial government shutdown, the first in nearly seven years that lawmakers have let federal agencies run out of money to support their operations.

Despite voting for nearly the same bill a total of 13 times during the Biden administration, Senate Democrats have continued to vote down Republicans’ House-passed Continuing Resolution that would simply extend government funding for seven weeks.

Democratic leaders oppose the bill because it does nothing to prevent the enhanced Obamacare Premium Tax Credits from expiring in December, a policy issue that they believe must be addressed now to prevent millions of Americans’ health care premiums from spiking.

By refusing to negotiate now on health care policy and refusing to pass Democrats’ doomed $1.4 trillion counterproposal, Republicans and President Donald Trump “own” the shutdown, Democrats argue.

“It’s now been a full week of Donald Trump’s government shutdown. 700,000+ federal employees furloughed[.] Disruptions to critical services[.] Businesses nationwide with government contracts are in peril[.] Because Donald Trump and the Republicans would rather close the government than fix healthcare for millions of Americans,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., posted on social media after the vote.

Most Republicans have said they are willing to discuss health care policy with Democrats, but only after the government reopens.

U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, highlighted how unless Republicans gain enough Democratic votes by Oct. 15, roughly 1.3 million active members of the military will not see their next paycheck.

“We may have a majority, but you’ve got 53, and it takes 60 votes to be able to get anything passed. So we need at least seven Democrats,” Van Duyne told The Center Square. “Three of them have already stepped up and have voted for this continuing resolution. But we need seven of them to come to the table.”

The longer a shutdown drags on, the more that federal services and the economy are negatively impacted. About $15 billion in Gross Domestic Product is lost per week during a government shutdown, as The Center Square reported.

Man Arrested w/ Explosive Devices Outside of a Catholic Church Frequented by SCOTUS Justices

Headline USA Editor
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Man Arrested w/ Explosive Devices Outside of a Catholic Church Frequented by SCOTUS Justices

(Headline USA) A man has been arrested on charges that he had explosive materials in his possession near a Washington, D.C., church that was preparing to celebrate an annual Mass marking the start of the U.S. Supreme Court’s term, according to police and court records.

Louis Geri, 41, was charged with possession of a destructive device after his arrest on Sunday outside St. Matthew’s Cathedral, court records show. Geri’s driver’s license if from New Jersey but had an Arizona address listed in charging papers.

Some Supreme Court justices usually attend the annual Red Mass. No justices went to this year’s celebration, a court spokesperson said.

Police officers were clearing the area near the Roman Catholic church before the ceremony when they saw Geri setting up a tent on steps leading into the church. Geri had been barred from the premises previously and was arrested when he refused to move his tent off church property, police said.

Geri told police that he had explosive devices and said, “You might want to stay back and call the federales,” according to a police report. Geri also was holding a butane lighter and had a bag containing vials of a yellow liquid, police said.

In the tent, investigators found what appeared to be parts for making a “destructive device,” a court filing says. Geri allegedly had over 200 devices in his tent.

Geri “described his devices as grenades and explosives containing (nitromethane) with a rubber band securing a fuse to be used for detonation,” the filing says.

Police said they also found paperwork in Geri’s possession that expressed “significant animosity” toward the Roman Catholic church, Jewish people, Supreme Court “members” and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Geri is represented by an attorney from the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, court records show. The attorney and a spokesperson for that office didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the charges.

A D.C. Superior Court judge ordered Geri held without bond until a hearing on Thursday.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

 

Alleged Arsonist Arrested for Starting Palisades Wildfires

Ken Silva
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Alleged Arsonist Arrested for Starting Palisades Wildfires

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Authorities in California have made an arrest in connection with the deadly January wildfire that erupted into the most destructive blaze in Los Angeles history and destroyed much of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, according to a law enforcement official not authorized to publicly discuss the case.

Authorities arrested 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht for lighting a fire on New Year’s Day that burned down much of the Pacific Palisades a week later. He was arrested Tuesday in Florida and will appear in court Wednesday in that state.

The man started a fire just after midnight on Jan. 1 that later became the Palisades Fire, acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said during a news conference Wednesday.

According to a Justice Department press release, Rinderknecht was working as an Uber driver on the night of Dec. 31.

“After dropping off a passenger in Pacific Palisades, Rinderknecht – who once lived in that neighborhood – drove towards Skull Rock Trailhead, parked his car, attempted to contact a former friend, and walked up the trail. He then used his iPhone to take videos at a nearby hilltop area and listened to a rap song – to which he had listened repeatedly in previous days – whose music video included things being lit on fire,” the DOJ said.

“At 12:12 a.m. on January 1, 2025, environmental sensing platforms indicated the Lachman Fire had begun. During the next five minutes, Rinderknecht called 911 several times, but didn’t get through because his iPhone was out of cellphone range. When he finally connected with 911, he was at the bottom of the hiking trail and reported the fire. By that point, a nearby resident already had reported the fire to authorities.”

The blaze, which erupted on Jan. 7, killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,000 homes and buildings in the Pacific Palisades, a wealthy coastal neighborhood of LA. The fire ripped through hillside neighborhoods, destroying mansions with spectacular views of the ocean and downtown Los Angeles.

Authorities interviewed Rinderknecht on Jan. 24, and he allegedly lied about where he was when he first saw the Lachman Fire.

“He claimed he was near the bottom of a hiking trail when he first saw the fire and called 911, but geolocation data from his iPhone carrier showed that he was standing in a clearing 30 feet from the fire as it rapidly grew,” the DOJ press release said.

Investigators still haven’t determined the cause of that blaze or the Eaton Fire, which broke out the same day in the community of Altadena and killed 18 people.

Both fires burned for days, reducing block after block of entire neighborhoods to gray and black debris.

An outside review released in September found that a lack of resources and outdated policies for sending emergency alerts led to delayed evacuation warnings.

The report commissioned by Los Angeles County supervisors said a series of weaknesses, including “outdated policies, inconsistent practices and communications vulnerabilities,” hampered the county’s response.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

 

Ex-FBI Director Comey Pleads Not Guilty at First Court Hearing

Ken Silva
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Ex-FBI Director Comey Pleads Not Guilty at First Court Hearing

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty Wednesday to allegations that he lied to Congress five years ago.

Comey entered a not guilty plea through his lawyer at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, kick-starting a process of legal wrangling in which defense lawyers will almost certainly move to get the indictment dismissed before trial.

The two-count indictment alleges that Comey made a false statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 30, 2020, by denying he had authorized an associate to serve as an anonymous source to the news media and that he obstructed a congressional proceeding. Comey has denied any wrongdoing and has said he was looking forward to a trial.

In 2019, the DOJ Inspector General reportedly found that Comey asked his friend to share the contents of a memo with the New York Times to pressure the DOJ to investigate his conversations with President Donald Trump.

The DOJ declined to prosecute Comey over the leak in 2019, but his alleged 2020 perjury opened him up to new legal liability.

Fox News Digital reported in July that former CIA Director John Brennan is also under investigation by the Justice Department for his role in the politicized and fruitless Russiagate investigation, as well as for making false statements to Congress.

FBI Director Kashyap Patel is also reportedly running an investigation into whether there was a “grand conspiracy” between intelligence officials and Democratic politicians.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

 

 

Billions in GDP Lost During First Week of Government Shutdown, Johnson Says

Headline USA Editor
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Billions in GDP Lost During First Week of Government Shutdown, Johnson Says

(, The Center Square) As the federal government shutdown hits the one week mark, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is urging Democrats to vote for Republicans’ funding bill to prevent permanent damage to the U.S. economy.

“Each week the shutdown continues, it will wipe out an estimated $15 billion in our Gross Domestic Product in our country,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday, referencing calculations released by the White House.

“A month-long shutdown would mean not just 750,000 federal civilian employees furloughed right now, but an additional 43,000 more unemployed Americans across the economy, because that is the effect, the ripple effect that it has in the private sector,” he added.

Congress, however, shows no signs of coming to a funding agreement to open the government anytime soon. Two options lay on the table: Republicans’ clean Continuing Resolution that would extend government funding for seven weeks, or Democrat’s $1.4 trillion spending bill.

Democratic leaders oppose Republicans’ bill because it does nothing to prevent the enhanced Obamacare Premium Tax Credits from expiring in December, a policy issue that they believe must be addressed now to prevent millions of Americans’ health care premiums from spiking.

Republican leaders have said they are willing to discuss the issue with Democrats, but only after the government reopens.

“We are pleading with Democrats in the Senate to do the right thing,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot of end-of-year issues that are being conflated with this very simple issue of keeping the government open, and that is the first and most immediate priority.”

At least eight Senate Democrats need to vote for the clean CR for it to clear the chamber’s 60-vote threshold. So far, only three members of the Democratic Caucus have lent their support.

Senators may vote for the sixth time on both parties’ proposals Tuesday evening. As of the afternoon, the U.S. Senate Periodical Press Gallery says votes on the bills “are possible but they are not scheduled at this time.”

The last time federal funding lapsed occurred in late 2018, and the shutdown lasted a record 35 days.

Freedom of the Press? Not According to DC Appellate Court

Headline USA Editor
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Freedom of the Press? Not According to DC Appellate Court

(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) First Amendment rights for journalists aren’t guaranteed, according to a recent appellate court ruling, with which U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and multiple news organizations disagree.

The Trump administration’s FBI, Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Justice are listed as appellees in a First Amendment case, Yanping Chen v FBI, et al, in which a panel of three judges upheld a lower court ruling compelling a journalist to divulge the identity of her source.

The case relates to a Chinese national, Yanping Chen, who became a lawful permanent resident in 1993 and a citizen in 2001, and was investigated for espionage. Chen founded the University of Management and Technology in Rosslyn, Va., in 1998, providing taxpayer-funded Department of Defense tuition assistance for U.S. military students. In 2010, the Obama administration’s FBI launched an investigation; by 2012, FBI agents executed search warrants at the school and at Chen’s home.

The FBI suspected Chen was engaged in espionage for the Chinese Communist Party, using UMT as a cover to gain access to service members’ information to share with the CCP. Despite the FBI claiming it had enough evidence to indict Chen on espionage charges, by 2016, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia chose not to press charges and the investigation died. Information about Chen was then leaked to Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge, who with her colleagues broke an exclusive story in 2017.

Under the Trump administration, the DOD halted UMT’s participation in its tuition assistance program and enrollment and funding dropped. By December 2018, Chen sued the FBI and other federal agencies citing the Privacy Act. She also demanded to learn the identity of Herridge’s source, filing subpoenas in 2022 demanding Herridge disclose it. Herridge and Fox News moved to quash the subpoenas, arguing the First Amendment provides privileges to reporters to protect their sources.

When Herridge was deposed in 2023, she refused to reveal her sources, citing national security concerns. The district court held her in contempt of court and imposed a daily fine of $800. The fine was stayed until the appellate court ruling. Herridge appealed the contempt order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which upheld the lower court’s ruling on Sept. 30.

The appellate judges ruled, “The First Amendment itself does not entitle Herridge to disobey discovery obligations imposed on every other citizen in the circumstances of this case, we see little reason to create that entitlement as a matter of judge-made common law. For these reasons, we decline to recognize a federal common law newsgathering privilege.”

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, filed an amicus brief in support of Herridge, as did multiple news organizations, arguing the First Amendment affords Herridge, and all journalists, the constitutional right to protect their sources. He also notes that source information could have been obtained in a confidential grand jury setting to protect the source, Herridge and national security concerns. He also said Chen was engaging in lawfare as a “suspected spy.”

Chen “is a suspected spy and a known national security threat,” Cruz said. “Federal law places such profound emphasis on protecting national secrets and sources and methods of intelligence operations that agencies may even refuse to confirm or deny the existence of such information. The Supreme Court has said it is unequivocally not the role of judges to question what information should and should not be designated as sensitive to national security.”

“The government has ample opportunity to root out” the leak, Cruz said. “It could initiate a grand jury investigation and obtain that person’s identity in a confidential setting, or it could take any other number of routes to ensure that the security of national secrets remains intact.”

Instead, Chen “has engaged in lawfare – weaponizing the judicial system to attack civil liberties that should not be rewarded,” Cruz said. “She is seeking to extract taxpayer dollars from government agencies that were withheld not because of any journalism, but because of the requesting party’s own ties to the Chinese Communist Party and her suspected espionage against the United States.

“She has funneled information about US servicemembers and extracted knowledge from them regarding training, capabilities, and personnel of the armed services. She should not be permitted to overcome the First Amendment rights those servicemembers fought for in order to recover money she lost as a result of disloyalty as alleged in this case.”

Cruz also maintains that the Founding Fathers believed “freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty and can never be restrained but by despotic governments,” citing the Virginia Declaration of Rights. “That freedom is bolstered by the free flow of information to journalists and by their ability to gather information from confidential sources.”

The ruling is expected to be appealed as First Amendment concerns continue to be raised in media outlets nationwide.

Turning Point’s Church Ties Collide with Israeli Influence Network

Jose Nino
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Turning Point’s Church Ties Collide with Israeli Influence Network

(José Niño, Headline USA) When mourners filled Dream City Church in September to remember Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, few could have imagined that the same megachurch now stands at the center of a registered foreign influence operation.

A recent Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filing by Show Faith by Works, LLC, a San Diego–based firm, discloses a $3.26 million contract with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to run what it calls the “largest Christian Church Geofencing Campaign in U.S. history”, according to a report by Israel-Palestine News. The campaign’s stated goal is to promote pro-Israel narratives and counter pro-Palestinian sentiment among American Christians, particularly across California, Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado.

The FARA filing describes a sophisticated operation combining digital surveillance, grassroots organizing, and targeted propaganda. It details the use of geofencing technology to track churchgoers’ mobile devices during worship services and Christian college gatherings, then deliver tailored ads and messaging supporting Israel’s position on the Gaza conflict. 

According to the filing, the project’s budget allocates $1.55 million for grassroots staff, $685,000 for media targeting, and $550,000 for “specialist purchasing.” The campaign targets 303 megachurches and more than 33,000 smaller congregations, along with 39 Christian colleges representing an estimated audience of 3.9 million worshippers and 100,000 students.

Among those churches is Dream City Church in Phoenix, one of the largest evangelical congregations in the Southwest with an estimated 20,000 regular attendees per Outreach Magazine. 

Dream City has long been intertwined with Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and its late founder. The Phoenix New Times reported that the church hosted Kirk’s monthly “Freedom Night in America” events and major TPUSA conferences, including the annual AmFest gathering. Kirk also served on the church’s board and frequently appeared in its services and broadcasts.

Those ties took on new significance after TPUSA spokesman Andrew Kolvet told Fox News that the organization’s “tech partners tracked over 277,000 devices” at the service. Kolvet framed the figure as a testament to Kirk’s broad influence and the scope of public interest in his death. Yet in light of the FARA disclosure, that data point has raised questions about whether similar tracking tools were used to monitor worshippers and attendees across religious events connected to TPUSA.

The FARA filing does not mention TPUSA directly. But its methods — geofencing religious sites, harvesting mobile data, and retargeting attendees with online content — mirror the technology Kolvet described. 

The campaign’s activities extend beyond the digital realm. The filing details plans for “Pastoral Resource Packages,” influencer partnerships, and weekly podcasts promoting Israel’s narrative. Among the campaign’s priorities is recruiting high-profile Christian figures, including athletes and entertainers, to amplify pro-Israel messages to younger audiences.

The effort forms part of a larger Israeli public relations strategy. According to reporting from Israel-Palestine News and Headline USA, Israel has allocated at least $150 million for global information campaigns since 2024, contracting firms such as Clock Tower X, SKDK, and Bridges Partners to manage influence operations on social media and in faith communities.

The FARA filing can be found here.

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

 

Report: Hunter Biden Sought to Sell Land Near U.S. Embassy to the Chinese

Luis Cornelio
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Report: Hunter Biden Sought to Sell Land Near U.S. Embassy to the Chinese

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Years after conservative outlets exposed Hunter Biden’s shady foreign business dealings, the New York Times has now acknowledged yet another case of potential corruption and conflict of interest — this time tied to Romania and the Chinese. 

According to the Times, Biden was part of a venture that sought sell land around the U.S. Embassy building in Romania to a group that included a Chinese company.

“The deal he was pursuing left open the possibility that the Chinese could have ended up with an ownership stake in a critical asset—the land around the embassy in Bucharest, and possibly the land on which the embassy sat,” the Times reported on Tuesday.

“The possibility concerned one of his former partners who sought to avoid the outcome at the time, while another partner later rejected the idea that it was ever on the table.”

The Times reported that the land deal collapsed in 2017, before the Chinese invested any money in it, due to a feud between Biden’s partners.

Still, Hunter’s work in Romania was one of the cases that left him vulnerable to possible foreign agent charges. In 2015, Hunter was recruited by Romanian real estate magnate Gabriel Popoviciu, who had been under investigation since the early 2000s, in an effort to sway U.S. officials on his behalf. 

Just one year earlier, in 2014, then-Vice President Joe Biden had traveled to Bucharest to slam corruption as “a cancer.” Yet, his son would end up working with one of Romania’s most controversial real estate developers. 

Popoviciu enlisted both Hunter and his uncle James Biden, who sought to bring in funding from CEFC China Energy, a company tied to the communist government’s Belt and Road initiative. 

According to the Times, Hunter leveraged his family name to attract CEFC’s investment. Between 2015 and 2017, Popoviciu paid Hunter $1 million, while another $2 million were put aside for Hunter’s associates. 

Special Counsel David Weiss flagged the deal as a possible violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, alleging that Hunter had cunningly arranged the payments to avoid “political ramifications” for his father. 

Weiss used the Romania case in 2023 as leverage in negotiating an already lenient plea deal that would have spared Hunter from FARA charges. That deal collapsed amid scrutiny from the judge who presided over the case. 

Hunter “performed almost no work in exchange for the millions of dollars he received from these entities,” Weiss said. 

Hunter’s efforts in Romania proved unsuccessful. In 2016, Popoviciu was sentenced to seven years in prison. His sentence was vacated by a Romanian court in 2024. That same year, Biden became the first president in U.S. history to issue sweeping pardons to his family. 

The Times story is written by Kenneth P. Vogel as he promotes his upcoming book titled Devils’ Advocates; The Hidden Story of Rudy Giuliani, Hunter Biden, and the Washington Insiders on the Payrolls of Corrupt Foreign Interests. The timing is notable because the outlet largely ignored the scandal for years.

 

FBI ‘Summer Heat’ Arrests Include ‘Most Wanted’ Fugitives, Gang Members

Headline USA Editor
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FBI ‘Summer Heat’ Arrests Include ‘Most Wanted’ Fugitives, Gang Members

(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) During a three-month “Summer Heat,” operation, FBI and law enforcement partners made 8,629 arrests as part of a national initiative targeting violent crime.

Ten FBI field offices prioritized finding dangerous fugitives, leading to more than 750 arrests – including more than 30 wanted for murder.

Key arrests in California, Florida, Massachusetts and Texas netted dangerous fugitives on the FBI Most Wanted List, including violent gang members and Mexican drug traffickers.

In California, San Diego Field Office agents arrested 76 people, including a violent fugitive from Mexico wanted for supplying thousands of kilograms of methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine to distributors throughout San Diego and Los Angeles.

FBI San Diego agents also seized five weapons, hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine worth more than $1.9 million and located seven missing children in sexual exploitation situations. They also helped secure prison sentences “for an FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive behind a multimillion-dollar criminal empire that lured young women into pornography through lies, coercion, and manipulation,” and for those arrested and sentenced for sexual exploitation or abuse of a minor.

In Florida, FBI Jacksonville agents arrested 120 people, including dozens of violent gang members and two wanted for distributing child sex abuse material. They recovered more than 50 weapons and multiple drug seizures. In one operation in Daytona, they arrested 28 Mongols motorcycle gang members as part of a joint operation with the Volusia Sheriff’s Office and Seventh Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office.

In North Texas, FBI Dallas agents arrested several fugitives, including Ten Most Wanted fugitives Cindy Rodriguez Singh and Cesar Pascual Orozco, who were extradited from India and Mexico, respectively. They were wanted for child sex crimes, murder, and violent robberies, including robbing an armored vehicle. FBI Dallas agents made arrests for “possession, distribution, and production of child sexual abuse material; violent robberies; drug-related charges; and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.” They also seized seven kilograms of fentanyl and 29 firearms.

Boston Field Office agents arrested the third greatest number of people in the country, 404, in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. They also made 129 drug seizures, 38 weapons seizures and found 27 missing children.

One key arrest was made in western Massachusetts with multiple law enforcement agencies targeting neighborhood-based gangs operating in Holyoke and open-air drug dealing where shootings occurred. They arrested 52 and made multiple drug and firearms seizures.

In southern Maine, FBI agents arrested 35, seized multiple firearms and narcotics. In New Hampshire, FBI efforts led to the indictments of 12 people on charges of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and other drugs; five others were arrested in a robbery conspiracy in Londonderry.

In Rhode Island, 17 gang members, fugitives and drug traffickers were arrested. In one case, seven people were arrested on drug trafficking and firearms related charges, seizing large amounts of fentanyl pills, powder, cocaine, and seven firearms, including an AR-15, two semi-automatic handguns, three handguns, and a Glock switch, the FBI said.

In New York, FBI Buffalo agents arrested 207 dangerous fugitives and seized more than 10 kilograms of cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine, eight firearms, and $243,000 in cash. In South Carolina, Columbia Field Office agents made 51 arrests and seized 15 firearms, 28 kilos of cocaine, and $620,000 in cash.

In Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Memphis and Miami, FBI agents and law enforcement partners arrested 417 people and seized 159 firearms.

In Philadelphia, FBI agents arrested three suspected of committing a June armed robbery of an armored truck; Kansas City Field Office FBI agents arrested three wanted for a violent car theft ring implicated in homicides, non-fatal shootings, and armed robberies.

Operation Summer Heat involved all 55 FBI field offices working with state and local partners targeting violent criminals, fugitives, gangs and transnational criminal organization members. The bulk of the arrests, more than 6,500, were gang members, the FBI said.

More than 1,000 child victims were found and violent crime cases in Indian Country were resolved. The operation also led to the seizure of nearly 45,000 kilograms of cocaine, 421 kilograms of fentanyl, and 2,281 weapons, the FBI said.

Unions Sue Trump over 100k H-1B Visa Fee

Headline USA Editor
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Unions Sue Trump over 100k H-1B Visa Fee

(The Center Square) – A coalition of employment unions filed a lawsuit to prevent the Trump administration from implementing efforts to charge a $100,000 fee for new H-1B worker petitions in the United States.

On Sept. 19, President Trump signed a proclamation imposing a one-time $100,000 fee for foreign workers coming to the country on H-1B visas. He cited wage suppression and a lack of jobs for American workers in his proclamation.

H-1B visas are typically issued for high-skilled foreign workers in science, technology and engineering fields.

The H-1B program operates on a random lottery system. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, in 2025, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Meta were in the top five companies petitioning for H-1B visas. Amazon recruited more than 10,000 H-1B applicants in 2025 alone, according to USCIS.

University professor unions, automobile and agriculture unions, and nurse staffing groups were among those who filed the lawsuit against the Trump administration. The unions argue Trump went beyond his authority by imposing the fee against new H-1B visa applicants.

“Most fundamentally, the President has no authority to unilaterally impose fees, taxes or other mechanisms to generate revenue for the United States, nor to dictate how those funds are spent,” the lawsuit reads.

The unions also argue imposing a fee on new petitions will harm hospitals, churches, schools and universities, on the basis that the law will lead to a workforce shortage in critical industries.

In addition to several unions, two individuals, who are cited under aliases, joined the lawsuit against the Trump administration. One individual is a pastor in the Appalachia region originally from the United Kingdom and the other is a postdoctoral researcher in northern California originally from India.

Each individual is afraid they will incur a fee if they renew status as a visa worker in the United States, due to the Trump administration’s proclamation.

The unions and individuals argue Congress already implements fees for the adjudication and authorization of certain petitions for H-1B workers. The union petitioners argue an employer filing for an H-1B worker visa would pay less than $8,000 if it followed all statutory and regulatory fees mandated by Congress.

The unions also accuse the Trump administration of failing to properly account for the system it intends to set up to intake fee payments for H-1B visas.

“[The Department of Homeland Security] has also failed to explain what criteria or factors it will consider in determining whether an individual, an employer, or an industry will be exempt from the $100,000 requirement,” the lawsuit reads. “This failure invites arbitrary, selective enforcement of the new requirement.”

The lawsuit was filed Friday in the California Northern District Court and is set for discussion in January 2026, according to legal filings.

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