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Confusion persists over $100K fee for H-1B visas
In La., universities and hospitals are among biggest program sponsors BY ALYSE PFEIL | Staff writer
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By GEORGE WALKER IV
LSU wide receiver Zavion Thomas is tackled by Vanderbilt cornerback Mark Davis, defensive end Miles Capers and linebacker Langston Patterson during the second half of Saturday’s game in Nashville, Tenn. The LSU defense couldn’t get a stop Saturday. The Commodores didn’t have to punt until the fourth quarter, accumulating 399 yards and averaging 5.6 yards per rush. The offensive onslaught raises more questions about LSU as the Tigers’ next two opponents, Texas A&M and Alabama, sit in the top 10 of the AP poll. Trailing by seven, LSU had a chance to tie the score with less than five minutes to play, but senior wide receiver Barion Brown dropped a potential first-down throw from fifth-year senior quarterback Garrett Nussmeier on third and 8, forcing the Tigers to punt with two timeouts and less than four minutes to play. They didn’t get the ball back. ä SEE COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE TIGERS GAME. PAGE 1C
President Donald Trump last month began charging companies a $100,000 fee for each new application to sponsor a skilled employee from another country to temporarily work in the U.S. on an H-1B visa. The move is aimed at American tech companies who hire foreign workers, which the Trump administration argues have “prominently manipulated the H-1B system, significantly harming American workers in computer-related fields.” But it could also impact Louisiana universities and hospitals that use the H-1B visa program to fill Trump jobs. Trump said the fee will incentivize companies to hire Americans. And his commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, said businesses must weigh whether the $100,000 fee is worth it. “Either the person is very valuable to the company and America, or they’re going to depart,” Lutnick said. But the new policy has caused confusion since it was rolled out Sept. 19. H-1B visa applicants around the globe, employers and immigration lawyers “were in a state of panic” immediately following Trump’s announcement, said Mary Kate Fernandez, a business immigration attorney at Adams & Reese who represents employers across the South. “It was pandemonium.” A month later, it’s not clear which employers will have to pay the fee. “It’s still extremely cloudy on who it’s
ä See VISAS, page 4A
U.S. Supreme Court case likely to reshape Voting Rights Act, experts say Whether districts will be redrawn for midterm elections is uncertain BY MARK BALLARD | Staff writer WASHINGTON — Thinking about how the U.S. Supreme Court will handle the Louisiana case that could reshape the Voting Rights Act, the crowning legislative achievement of the civil rights era, Southern University political
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science professor Albert Samuels says he can’t help but think back. Out of Louisiana, he noted, came the litigation that helped end Reconstruction laws protecting the formerly enslaved, the “grandfather clause” that kept Blacks from registering to vote and the landmark Plessy case,
which enshrined Jim Crow laws limiting African American opportunities. “Ironically, it’s Louisiana at the center of this again,” Samuels said after listening to the 21/2-hour Supreme Court hearing
ä See CASE, page 5A
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it’s time! SCHEDULE YOUR MAMMOGRAM TODAY!
Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus speak outside the U.S. Capitol after arguments were heard on the Voting Rights Act at the Supreme Court in Washington on Wednesday. ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MATT BROWN
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