A San Jose advocacy group for South Asian people is representing a coalition that sued the Trump administration Friday over a new, $100,000 fee for the H-1B visa, a controversial work and residency permit heavily used in Silicon Valley’s technology industry to employ foreign workers, mostly from India.

The South Asian American Justice Collaborative of San Jose is among several organizations representing the coalition of labor unions, health care providers, schools, and religious organizations that are plaintiffs in the case. Also representing the coalition are Democracy Forward, Justice Action Center, Kuck Baxter LLC, Joseph & Hall, P.C., and IMMpact Litigation.

They are suing President Donald Trump and the U.S. departments of Homeland Security and State, accusing them of illegally usurping the power of Congress, and the department of exceeding its authority and violating its own rules on making changes to visa programs.

“The government failed to consider how extorting exorbitant fees will stifle innovation,” the lawsuit filed in Northern California U.S. District Court said.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the President’s actions were legal, and accused the plaintiffs of habitually filing frivolous lawsuits.

“President Trump promised to put American workers first, and his commonsense action on H1-B visas does just that by discouraging companies from spamming the system and driving down American wages, while providing certainty to employers who need to bring the best talent from overseas,” Jackson said.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kalpana Peddibhotla, executive director of the South Asian American Justice Collaborative, said the fee threatens workers and their families, along with the financial and social wellbeing of communities.

“South Asians make up the majority of H-1B workers and are part of the fabric of America, staffing rural hospitals, advancing lifesaving research, and driving innovation in businesses across the country,” Peddibhotla said.

Trump last month signed a proclamation imposing the fee, which went into effect Sept. 21.

The H-1B visa, long a flashpoint in America’s immigration debate, pits Big Tech, along with the industry’s investors and the staffing firms supplying foreign workers to it, against critics who point to the alleged replacement of U.S. workers and undercutting of wages.

Earlier this year, the controversy burst into angry political battles after a conservative influencer attacked employment of Indian tech workers in the U.S., leading to schisms among Trump supporters, who include anti-immigrant factions and influential tech-industry figures in his administration. Among Democrats, Big Tech donors have faced off against organized labor over the visa.

Recently, the visa has faced bi-partisan criticism over hiring of H-1B workers by companies also laying off employees.

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The visa is intended for skilled foreign workers, but research indicates many who hold it are paid less than typical wages in their fields. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said at the time of Trump’s proclamation that, “no longer will you put trainees on an H-1B visa … if you’re going to train people, you’re going to train Americans.” Companies wanting a “very sophisticated engineer” can pay the fee, Lutnick said.

Some 600,000 foreign workers in the U.S. hold the visa, including large numbers in the Bay Area. Each year, 85,000 new H-1B visas are issued by lottery.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, challenges the fee order as unconstitutional and unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act and asks the court to nullify the new fee requirement. It said the visa supports immigrants in launching new businesses that create jobs. Educators and healthcare workers make up a tenth of H-1B holders, and the U.S. “faces a projected shortfall of nearly 86,000 physicians in the next decade,” while nurses are also in short supply, and K-12 schools need the visa to fill empty jobs, the lawsuit argued.

Plaintiffs include Global Nurse Force, Global Village Academy Collaborative, Society of the Divine Word, the Fathers of St. Charles, Church on the Hill, International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW International), UAW Local 4811, American Association of University Professors, Committee of Interns and Residents, Service Employees International Union. Also listed as plaintiffs are a citizen of the United Kingdom residing in the Appalachia region, and a
citizen of India residing in Northern California.