'Absolutely incredible': Trump's immigration scheme blows up in his face

President Donald Trump instituted a drastic change to the legal immigration process in recent months, implementing a new $100,000 fee for noncitizens to enter the United States on an H-1B visa, a program used to import high-skilled workers like engineers.

However, with the program in force, the net effect has been a drop in revenue for the government.

The simple reason for this? Far fewer people are applying for H-1B visas, to the point that the government is collecting less in application fees than it gained from the so-called "proclamation fee."

"85 people have paid the $100,000 H-1B fee so far, totaling $8.5 million in revenue," reported IFP fellow Connor O'Brien. "But fee revenue from H-1B apps abroad is down $28 million. So the fee — justified by a paper claiming the revenue-maximizing fee was >$100,000! — appears to have lost the government $20 million."

American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick weighed in as well. "An absolutely incredible statistic; Trump's $100,000 H-1B fee has actually lost the U.S. government $19.5 million in application fees."

The H-1B program has been a major wedge issue within the Trump coalition for years. Wealthier businessmen who have backed Trump, particularly tech billionaire Elon Musk, have passionately defended the program; however, it is reviled by rank-and-file MAGA activists, who see it as a way to import large numbers of nonwhite workers.