Federal courts are blocking the administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in 17 states from implementing new rules that would give foreign farm workers collective bargaining rights to the exclusion of American farm workers.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is putting America first,” Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican who is leading a multistate lawsuit against the rule, said in a statement.
In this case, they were trying to give foreign farm workers rights that Americans didn't have. That's why Kansas took the lead in bringing this lawsuit. The rule of law has prevailed. [Emphasis added]
In September 2023, the Department of Labor announced federal rules that would make significant changes to the H-2A visa program, which allows American farms to import foreign workers to fill U.S. agricultural jobs.
As part of the rules, Confirm In April 2024, foreign H-2A visa workers will have collective bargaining rights that are not available to American farmworkers.
In June, Kobach, along with attorneys general of 16 other states, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Georgia seeking to block the Biden-Harris administration from enforcing the rule. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Lisa Godby Wood issued a preliminary injunction blocking the rule from going into effect in the 17 states that have sued the administration.
“The issue before the Court is whether the final rules create a right not previously granted by Congress. The Court finds that they do,” Wood wrote.
Regardless of the terminology used in the final rule… The final rule provides that farmworkers have the right to participate in cooperative activities to advance their own interests, a right Congress did not enshrine in law. And defendants have not provided any sources showing that Congress intended to create such a right. [Emphasis added]
…
Based on the findings of fact and conclusions of law set forth herein, The court granted the plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction.Accordingly, the Court orders that during the pendency of this action or until further order of the Court, Defendants be enjoined from enforcing the Improving Protections for Temporary Agricultural Workers Final Rule in Georgia, Kansas, South Carolina, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, and against Miles Berry Farm and the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association. [Emphasis added]
As Breitbart News has reported for years, the H-2A visa program is often used to replace Americans and maintain the low cost of agricultural labor.
In 1997, more than 16,000 foreign H-2A visa workers were imported to fill American agricultural jobs. The latest data for fiscal year 2022 shows that U.S. farms are nearly 300,000 Hire foreign H-2A visa workers to fill American jobs.
This lawsuit Kansas v. U.S. Department of Laborno. 2:24-cv-00076 Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter. here.
