US President Donald Trump on Tuesday hosted the 2025 US Physics Olympiad team at the White House, days after signing a proclamation that imposes a $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa applicants. The photo-op, intended to celebrate a historic academic win, has instead reignited debate over immigration and meritocracy in America.
Trump’s assistant Michael Kratsios shared a photo of the president with the team on X, captioned: “Today POTUS & WHOSTP47 were proud to welcome the 2025 World Champion USA Physics Team to the WhiteHouse! These incredible geniuses DOMINATED at the International Physics Olympiad in July, bringing home a record FIVE gold medals — the greatest performance in team history.”
But, the image quickly went viral for reasons beyond academic excellence. Online users noted that none of the team members appeared to be white or of visibly American origin—a detail that struck a nerve amid Trump’s recent crackdown on skilled immigration.
The viral photo of Trump flanked by five immigrant-origin students—hailed as the brightest minds in American physics—has become a symbol of the contradiction at the heart of the administration’s immigration stance especially after the US President raised H-1B visa fee to $100,000. Many online users pointed out that while Trump celebrates their success, his policies may make it harder for such talent to remain in or contribute to the US in the long term.
“This picture alone should be enough to explain why H1B programme is important for US,” wrote X user Sarcastic Monk (@ThePiyush7). Another X user Bharat Singh (@OyeBhartsingh) commented, “100% non white Americans, threat to American jobs, Trump should deport them."
“LOL! Zero ‘ethnic white Americans’ on the physics team. One Russian, one Indian, and the rest Chinese—all non-white, immigrants of the 3 most hated countries in this country,” wrote Deep Barot (@deepbarot). “There you go. I spot Chinese and an Indian. Yea, put more rules on H1B,” added Zorius Veximus (@ZoriusVeximus).
Indian-origin Agastya Goel on winning team The US Physics Team clinched five gold medals at the 2025 International Physics Olympiad held from July 17 to 25 in Paris. The event, themed “Physics Beyond Frontiers,” saw participation from 415 students representing 87 countries.
The five-member US team—Agastya Goel, Allen Li, Joshua Wang, Feodor Yevtushenko, and Brian Zhang—delivered what officials described as the “greatest performance in team history.” The US was the only country to secure gold medals for all its participants.
Among them, Goel is an Indian-origin student and son of Harvard professor Ashish Goel. He is a junior at Henry M Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California. Besides, excelling in physics, he is actively involved in several school clubs, including the Gunn Board Game Club, Gunn Competitive Programming Club, Gunn Varsity Tennis Team, and Gunn Choir, as per his LinkedIn profile. Goel is also fluent in Hindi and Spanish
The H-1B clampdown
On Friday, Trump signed a proclamation that restricts the entry of H-1B visa holders and imposes a $100,000 annual fee per applicant. The move, which the administration says is aimed at protecting American jobs, has been widely criticised by the tech sector and immigrant advocacy groups.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed that major firms were consulted in advance.
“A hundred thousand dollars a year for H-1B visas, and all of the big companies are on board. We’ve spoken to them,” he said, adding that the goal is to disincentivise companies from training foreign workers.
“If you're going to train somebody, you're going to train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land. Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs,” Lutnick said.
White House justifies policy
White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf defended the policy, stating that it would ensure only the most highly skilled workers—those irreplaceable by American employees—are brought into the country.
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