News Wrap: Trump’s $100,000 H1-B visa fee hike leaves companies scrambling

Ali Rogin:

Good evening, I'm Ali Rogin. John Yang is away. Tech companies scrambled today to get their foreign workers back to the U.S. after President Trump announced a drastic hike in visa fees. It applies to the H-1B visa for high skilled jobs, which previously cost $215. The President's proclamation requires a hundred thousand dollar fee. Microsoft, JP Morgan and Amazon all told their employees on those visas and not to leave the country and if they're currently overseas to get back by midnight tonight. That's according to internal emails reviewed by Reuters.

India and China account for the highest number of H-1B visa applications. And India, some saw a silver lining to the move.

Sunil Rao, Mumbai Resident:

It's a big hit for the tech talent, but also the other side. I think it will be good for India because it could be a reverse brain drain in the likes where people can work here.

Ali Rogin:

The Trump administration argues companies use H-1B visas to hire foreign born workers for cheaper wages.

Overnight, the U.S. conducted its third strike this month on a boat alleged to be smuggling drugs. President Trump announced it in a social media post along with unclassified video. He said three narcoterrorists were killed. The president did not reveal where it happened except to say it was in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility, which includes the Caribbean and Central and South America.

The prosecutor involved in the mortgage fraud investigation against New York's attorney general is leaving his post. Erik Siebert, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, handed in his resignation shortly after President Trump told reporters Friday evening he wanted Siebert out.

Siebert was in the middle of investigating Letitia James, but it had not resulted in criminal charges. On social media, the president said he fired Siebert because the attorney had, quote, unusually strong support from two Democrats.

The Trump administration has imposed new rules for how journalists can cover the Department of Defense, now renamed the Department of War. The Pentagon sent a memo requiring reporters to sign a pledge vowing not to gather or use any information that isn't formally cleared by the department, even if it's unclassified. Those who do not comply will be stripped of their credentials. Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on social media, the press has to, quote, follow the rules or go home. The National Press Club called the move a, quote, assault on independent journalism.

And in Hong Kong, police ordered a massive evacuation after construction workers unearthed a piece of history. Thousands of people were ordered to leave their homes after a World War II era bomb was discovered. Police say the five foot long, 1,000 pound bomb was found at a construction site in a residential and business district on the island. Teams worked through the night and into the morning, eventually deactivating it.