The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court on Tuesday.
Washington:
A group of 174 Indian citizens, including seven minors, have filed a lawsuit against the recent presidential proclamation on H-1B that would prevent them from entering the United States or not being issued a visa.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued a subpoena on Wednesday to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad F Wolf, along with Secretary of Labor Eugene. Scalia.
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court on Tuesday.
“Proclamation 10052 H-1B / H-4 visa ban hurts the economy of the United States, separates families and defies Congress. While the previous two points make it unseemly, the last point makes it illegal” said the lawsuit filed by a lawyer Wasden Banias on behalf of the 174 Indian citizens.
The lawsuit seeks an order declaring the presidential proclamation restricted to issue new H-1B or H4 visas or admit new H-1B or H-4 visa holders as illegal. It also urges the court to compel the State Department to issue decisions on pending applications for H-1B and H-4 visas.
In his presidential proclamation on June 22, Trump temporarily suspended the issuance of H-1B work visas until the end of the year.
“In managing our nation’s immigration system, we must take into account the impact of foreign workers on the United States labor market, particularly in the current extraordinary environment of high domestic unemployment and depressed demand for labor.” said the proclamation issued by Trump.
In his proclamation, Trump said the overall unemployment rate in the United States nearly quadrupled between February and May 2020, producing some of the most extreme unemployment ever recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While May’s 13.3 percent rate reflects a sharp decline since April, millions of Americans are still out of work.
The proclamation also extends until the end of the year its previous executive order that had prohibited the issuance of new green cards for legal permanent residence. Green Card holders, once admitted pursuant to immigrant visas, receive “open market” employment authorization documents, allowing them immediate eligibility to compete for almost any job in any sector of the economy, Trump said.
Forbes, who first reported the lawsuit filed by Indian citizens, said the complaint notes that Congress specified the rules under which H-1B visa holders could work in the United States and balanced the interests of workers and American employers.
“The complaint seeks to protect H-1B professionals, including those who have passed the labor certification process and have approved immigrant petitions. These people are waiting for their priority date to obtain permanent residency, a wait that can take many years. for Indian citizens, “Forbes reported.
Meanwhile, several lawmakers urged Scalia on Tuesday to reverse the work visa ban.
“Throughout this administration, the President has continued to mourn the alleged abuses of the immigration system, but has not addressed the systemic problems that have persisted and have allowed companies and employers to exploit and poorly pay immigrant workers, guest workers and American workers, “lawmakers wrote. .
“This misguided attempt by the president to make scapegoats for policy flaws during the pandemic not only serves to hurt immigrants, but rules out the real problem of a work visa program that needs desperate reform.” , said the letter, which among others was signed by congressmen Joaquín Castro, president of the Hispanic Committee of Congress; Bobby Scott, chair of the Education and Labor Committee, and Karen Bass, chair of the Black Caucus of Congress.
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