India, Oct. 21 -- The headlines screamed disaster. Donald Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee was supposed to crush Indian dreams. Immigration lawyers sounded the alarm, the Indian media fumed, and social media erupted over the fate of Indian engineers who built America's tech future. Then came the fine print. The rule applies only to new H-1B petitions filed for people outside the US or a few status changes. It doesn't affect the hundreds of thousands already there or most renewals. In reality, it changes almost nothing. It was another Trump taco - a policy built to roar, not to reform.

That was a relief, but also revealing. The fee turned out to be a toothless tiger, yet its roar did real damage. It showed once again that Washington has tra...