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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general in filing a comment letter opposing the Trump administration’s proposed rule that once again attempts to impose a $100,000 tax on petitions for H-1B visas. H-1B visas allow state and local governments to address nationwide shortages of critical service providers like teachers, physicians, and nurses by hiring highly skilled workers who are not U.S. residents.
In the comment letter, Attorney General Brown and the coalition argue that the proposed rule would damage states’ ability to fill staff shortages in crucial fields, would overstep the administration’s legal authority, lacks proper justification, and does not provide enough time for public feedback.
On August 25, 2026, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would impose a tax of $103,265 on cap-subject employers, even though the administration’s recent attempt to impose a similar tax had been struck down. In today’s comment letter, Attorney General Brown and the coalition urge USCIS to withdraw the proposed rule. Attorney General Brown and the coalition argue that:
- The proposed H-1B visa tax would substantially harm states’ abilities to remedy staff shortages in fields crucial to their residents’ well-being, including primary and secondary schooling and healthcare.
- The proposed rule exceeds USCIS’s legal authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
- The proposed rule constitutes the imposition of a tax, which requires authorization from Congress that USCIS has not received.
- The proposed rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act, as USCIS both fails to adequately justify the burdens the tax would impose on states and fails to consider less harmful alternatives.
- USCIS has provided an unusually short 30-day period for public comment on the proposed rule without providing proper justification.
In filing the comment letter, Attorney General Brown joins the attorneys general of California, Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
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