Immigration enforcement and legal pathways take center stage on IACCGH’s Business Hour on Open Forum with renowned attorney Charles Foster
By Somdatta Basu
Feb 14, Houston, TX: On the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston’s Business Hour on Open Forum (FM 103.5), listeners heard a candid, wide-ranging conversation on how today’s immigration climate is affecting both employers and families—and why, as veteran attorney Charles Foster put it, the pressure is increasingly being felt not only at the border, but inside the legal system itself.
The Feb. 14 program – titled “Immigration Enforcement & Risks to H-1B and EB-5 programs,” as noted on the show flyer – featured Charles C. Foster, Chairman of Foster LLP, returning to the studio for what the hosts called his “fifth rodeo” on the program. Foster, a Houston-based immigration lawyer who told listeners he has been practicing for “more than 50 years,” traced his path into the field back to his upbringing on the U.S.–Mexico border and an early interest in international work.
“I wanted to be an international lawyer… and I was always aware of immigration because growing up on the border,” Foster said. He explained that immigration law offered him the international client base he was seeking, and over time he built a large practice headquartered in Houston, with additional offices in other cities and abroad. “I’ve been fortunate to… develop one of the largest immigration firms in the country,” he said.
From there, the conversation moved quickly to what Foster described as the defining tension of the moment: a political environment that often claims to champion legal immigration while making lawful pathways more complicated and slower in practice. While emphasizing that immigration should not be reduced to a partisan label, Foster argued that the current climate has shifted the balance of the system.
“They are undermining legal immigration across the board,” he said, describing a surge in administrative reviews and added layers of scrutiny that, in his view, are straining adjudications for both immigrants and non-immigrants. He pointed to what he called an unusual focus on revisiting already-approved matters, including naturalization cases. “They’re requesting each office to refer 100 to 200 naturalization cases for denaturalization – which is unheard of,” he said, adding that such moves increase workload on an already overburdened system.
The host pressed him on a question many families quietly worry about whether citizenship or permanent residency can be revoked. Foster did not portray it as a routine outcome, but he warned that, in his view, boundaries are being tested in ways that create disruption even when courts later push back. “They’re doing a lot of things that… courts… find are unlawful, but they do a lot of damage in the interim,” he said.
Numbers and narratives around enforcement were another focal point. Foster pushed back on what he described as exaggerated public claims about the size of the undocumented population. “The most accurate figure today… is around 14, maybe 14.5 million,” he said, estimating that roughly “a million” may have been removed or left voluntarily, driven in part by fear. “One of the most effective things… is just scare the hell out of people,” he said, arguing that media visibility around enforcement actions has amplified that effect.
In one of the program’s most pointed exchanges, Foster challenged the claim that “mass deportation” efforts are primarily targeting “the worst of the worst.” He argued that focusing on headline numbers makes it more likely that people with longstanding community ties – including those with U.S.-citizen children – are swept into enforcement actions. “They want to get the numbers up,” he said. “So, the only way they can do that is… get people off the streets, off the construction sites, out of restaurants.” The host agreed that the human cost can be profound when a household loses a parent, calling attention to “mental issues” for children who are U.S. citizens.
Foster then stepped back to a broader historical point: the last major legislative reset is now decades behind the country’s current needs. He revisited the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, describing the “deal” made at the time – legalization paired with employer verification requirements – and the flaws he believes were left unresolved. “It begged the question: how would an American employer know how to verify your status?” he said. In his telling, the reliance on simple, easily counterfeited documents meant the enforcement-and-verification system never became as effective as intended. “So, the very law… had no effectiveness as it was intended,” he said.
From history, the discussion moved into practical realities of lawful pathways – particularly for professionals. Foster described U.S. legal immigration as “highly restrictive,” challenging the common refrain that people should “go back” and return legally. “That’s nonsense,” he said, arguing that many people never had a viable line to enter lawfully in the first place and may face lengthy bars if they depart. He laid out the major channels – family-based routes, employment-based immigration, investment through EB-5, and humanitarian protections such as asylum – and then described how delays and policy shifts can narrow access in each category.
In employment-based immigration, he said, timing is often the central problem: employers hire for immediate needs, while permanent residence can take years – even decades for some. Foster described the H-1B specialty-occupation visa as a longstanding “go-to” bridge that allows employers to hire degreed professionals while pursuing longer-term sponsorship. “H-1B is a specialty occupation visa,” he said, explaining that it typically requires a four-year degree aligned with a professional role and compliance with prevailing-wage rules.
In a detail that drew attention, Foster noted that the H-1B pathway has even been part of the early trajectories of prominent innovators. “Elon Musk had an H-1B,” he said, using the point to underscore how commonplace the sequence can be: student visa, optional practical training, H-1B, then employer-sponsored permanent residence.
Foster also discussed other work visa categories used by employers – such as L-1 transfers for managers or employees with specialized knowledge, and O-1 visas for individuals of extraordinary ability – while noting that treaty-based investor options are not uniformly available across nationalities. “Unfortunately, we do not have that bilateral treaty with India,” he said, referring to E-2 treaty investor structures available to nationals of certain countries.
As the program turned to what comes next, Foster offered a scenario he framed as politically unusual but not impossible: a moment where a breakthrough could come from the very side of politics least expected to deliver it. “We may… have what we call a Nixon-to-China moment,” he said, suggesting that a leader with strong credibility among restriction-minded voters could be the one able to move a limited reform package. Still, he cautioned listeners not to underestimate how rare major legislative action has been. “We have not enacted any major immigration requirement in 40 years,” he said.
Yet he closed on what the host requested: an optimistic note, grounded in both law and history. “The bark is worse than the bite,” Foster said, urging listeners not to give up, to know their rights, and to remember that courts still function as a check. “Don’t give up,” he said. And he returned to a theme he considers the country’s strategic advantage: immigrants’ long contribution to American growth. “Half of all Fortune 500 companies were started by immigrants or their children,” he said, adding that the U.S. would face population decline without immigration. “We’re fortunate that people still want to come here,” he said.
Open Forum hosts thanked Foster for returning to the studio and invited him back as the landscape continues to evolve. Foster agreed. “Be happy to come back,” he said – an answer that matched the tone of an hour built less on slogans and more on the hard mechanics of system millions depend on.