Judge stops federal program for migrant agricultural workers

(The Center Square) — Attorneys general from 17 states are suing to stop the federal government from implementing a program they say gives migrant agricultural workers rights that American citizens working farm jobs do not have.

The coalition of states, led by South Carolina, contends that the U.S. Department of Labor's "Improving Protections for Workers in Temporary Agricultural Employment in the United States" rule effectively grants collective bargaining rights to agricultural migrant workers in the country under the H-2A visa program.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia's Brunswick Division granted a motion for a preliminary injunction, stopping the rule from taking effect while the lawsuit is pending. The injunction is limited to the case's plaintiffs.

"Neither a nationwide injunction nor a nationwide stay is appropriate in this case," U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood wrote in the order . "Plaintiffs argue that universal relief is needed because this case implicates federal immigration laws, nationwide relief would protect similarly situated nonparties, and it would be more practical than party-specific preliminary relief. ...These arguments are unavailing."

Miles Berry Farm, the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association and the states of Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia joined South Carolina in the lawsuit. The action names the labor department, Assistant Secretary for the department's Employment and Training Administration José Javier Rodríguez and its Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman .

"Here we go again," South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said in an announcement. "The Biden administration is almost constantly trying to enact rules and regulations that it does not have the authority to do, but we'll keep fighting this unconstitutional overreach every time it happens."