Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, along with a coalition of state attorneys general, has filed a lawsuit against the Biden Administration’s Department of Labor (DOL) over a new regulation that aims to grant foreign nationals working in American agriculture more rights than American citizens.
In April 2024, the DOL issued a rule allowing foreign nationals under the H-2A visa program within the agricultural industry to unionize and engage in collective bargaining. This rule is said to contravene federal law, including the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, which permits workers in certain industries to form trade unions and engage in collective bargaining but exempts the agricultural sector. Congress has upheld this distinction for nearly ninety years. The Biden Administration's new rule attempts to use agency rulemaking to extend rights to foreign nationals not afforded to American citizens by providing special treatment to those on H-2A guestworker visas.
Attorney General Paxton argues that the DOL rule represents arbitrary and capricious agency action that exceeds its congressional authority. He has joined forces with Kansas and other states seeking injunctive relief to prevent the rule from taking effect.
“Joe Biden is using his bureaucratic machinery to favor immigrants who are in the country on temporary visas by unilaterally granting them rights that are not enjoyed by American citizens working in the same industry,” said Attorney General Paxton. “By favoring foreign labor over American workers, Biden is not only breaking the law but turning his back on his own citizens.”
To read the filing, click here.