Law360 is providing free access to its coronavirus coverage to make sure all members of the legal community have accurate information in this time of uncertainty and change. Use the form below to sign up for any of our weekly newsletters. Signing up for any of our section newsletters will opt you in to the weekly Coronavirus briefing.
Sign up for our Corporate newsletter
You must correct or enter the following before you can sign up:
Thank You!
Law360 (January 4, 2021, 4:08 PM EST) -- President Donald Trump extended a controversial set of proclamations barring foreign workers from entering the U.S. through the end of March, saying the orders are still necessary given the constricted job market and ongoing COVID-19 restrictions on business.
The latest proclamation, handed down late on New Year's Eve, extends a block on green card seekers announced in April and restrictions announced in June that barred companies from bringing workers into the U.S. via non-immigrant work visas. The stated goal of the bans is to reserve space for U.S. workers as the economy reboots following slowdowns caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home orders.
"The effects of COVID-19 on the United States labor market and on the health of American communities is a matter of ongoing national concern, and the considerations present in Proclamations 10014 and 10052 have not been eliminated," the president said in the Dec. 31 proclamation.
While U.S. unemployment rates have improved since peaking in April, 9.8 million fewer jobs were available in November 2020 than in February, before the pandemic took hold, according to the White House.
The new order continues the June proclamation's ban on H-1B specialty occupation visas, most H-2B guest worker visas, J trainee visas, L intracompany transfer visas, and visas for accompanying spouses. The proclamation applies to foreign nationals who were not present in the U.S. or in possession of a valid visa or travel document when the proclamation was issued.
The latest order doesn't change the earlier proclamations' narrow exceptions, which allowed entry to guest workers involved in the U.S. food supply chain, participants in the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, and individuals whose presence the Secretary of State or Secretary of Homeland Security determine to be in the national interest.
Companies, visa applicants and business associations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and TechNet — a network of technology company executives — quickly challenged the restrictions when they were introduced, saying the bans were causing "severe economic harm."
In October, the California federal judge overseeing their case determined that Trump had overstepped his authority by blocking new work visas, and he preliminarily barred the government from enforcing the rule against the organizations involved in the suit, including TechNet members Google and Apple.
Despite the injunction, the organizations complained to the court in November that the government was ignoring the order and that their visa applications were falling into an "administrative black hole."
Boilerplate language in Thursday's proclamation extending the visa bans promised that the White House would update the executive action in light of any legal questions raised.
"If any provision of this proclamation ... is held to be invalid because of the lack of certain procedural requirements, the relevant executive branch officials shall implement those procedural requirements to conform with existing law and with any applicable court orders," the proclamation says.
The White House and counsel for the business associations did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
--Additional reporting by Suzanne Monyak and Hannah Albarazi. Editing by Adam LoBelia.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
