Opinion ID: 449221
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Consistency with INA Immigration Policy.

Text: 14 VAGA's argument that the 50% rule contradicts the INA's underlying policy is grounded on the statute's goal of admitting needed seasonal foreign labor. VAGA downplays, however, the statute's concurrent purpose of protecting American labor. Considering the 50% rule in light of both these objectives, we find it consistent with the INA's basic statutory intent. 15 The INA itself provides that the Attorney General will decide questions of importing H-2 foreign seasonal workers, after consultation with appropriate agencies, on petition of employers. The House Judiciary Committee report explained that the purpose of this provision, Sec. 101(a)(15)(H) of the Act, was to 16 grant the Attorney General sufficient authority to admit temporarily certain alien workers, industrial, agricultural, or otherwise, for the purpose of alleviating labor shortages as they exist or may develop in certain areas or certain branches of American productive enterprises, particularly in periods of intensified production. 2 17 The provision thus delegates to the Attorney General the authority to decide when nonimmigrant workers need to be admitted to alleviate labor shortages. 18 Congress granted the authority to admit H-2 foreign seasonal workers in the context of an Act that provides strong safeguards for American labor. 3 A safeguard noted in the House Report is Sec. 212(a)(14), 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1182(a)(14). This provision excludes immigrant labor (as distinguished from temporary nonimmigrant labor) unless DOL certifies that there are not sufficient domestic workers, and that the employment of such immigrants would not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States similarly employed. 4 19 Another safeguard is the qualification of the Attorney General's authority to admit temporary foreign workers at issue in this case. The proposed Act originally provided simply that the question of importing H-2 workers shall be determined by the Attorney General upon petition of the importing employer. S.716, 82d Cong., 1st Sess. Sec. 215(c) (1951). Domestic labor representatives, however, objected to this provision, arguing that only the Secretary of Labor had the expertise to determine the need for foreign workers: 20 [The proposed provision gives] the Attorney General complete discretion to allow aliens to enter this country without any limitation on time or number to do work in the country if there were not available unemployed persons in this country to fill the jobs.... [It is] undesirable to give such authority to a person not thoroughly acquainted with the labor needs of the economy.... In order to protect domestic labor from competition of nonresident aliens, the law should provide that the Secretary of Labor should be required to make a thorough survey of the labor market, certify the need for the importation of foreign labor, and establish regulations governing the importation and use of such labor. 5 21 Congress then changed the H-2 provisions to require that the Attorney General decide H-2 petitions only after consultation with appropriate agencies of the Government. 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1184(c). 22 The Attorney General's agent, INS, has exercised its delegated authority to decide H-2 employer petitions after consultation with appropriate agencies by looking to DOL for advice. Petitioning employers must provide INS with DOL certification (1) that qualified persons in the United States are not available and (2) that the employment of the beneficiary will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States similarly employed.... 8 C.F.R. Sec. 214.2(h)(3)(i). This regulatory standard for advising on the admission of temporary nonimmigrants in essence parallels the statutory standard that DOL uses for considering the admission of immigrants. In this way both the statute and INS regulations provide similar safeguards for American workers. 23 VAGA concedes that the INA provides for some protection of domestic workers, but complains that the INS asks DOL about the availability of domestic workers only at the time of certification. This is incorrect. The INS regulation also asks DOL to certify that the H-2 workers employed will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of domestic workers. 8 C.F.R. Sec. 214.2(h)(3)(i) (emphasis added). Thus the INS certification regulation contemplates that DOL will obtain employers' assurances regarding future employment of domestic workers. Indeed, without employers' assurances regarding their future conduct, it would be impossible for DOL to predict for INS a given petition's future effect on domestic employment. DOL regulations require several such assurances, such as complying with applicable laws, cooperating in the active recruitment of domestic workers until the H-2 workers depart for the employer's place of employment, and guaranteeing workers certain wages and terms of employment. See 20 C.F.R. Secs. 655.202, 655.203. DOL can properly ask for assurances that employers will hire domestic workers at least during part of the contract period, since any domestic unemployment resulting from the use of H-2 workers could reasonably be predicted to have an adverse effect on wages and conditions for domestic workers generally. 24 VAGA also complains that the 50% rule entirely undermines the statutory policy of providing adequate labor. The effect of the rule, VAGA argues, is that producers would have to fire H-2 workers to hire any available domestic replacements. Domestic workers, they argue, are realistically an unreliable source of labor because they often quit, and the employer is then left without an adequate labor supply, contrary to statutory intent. 25 We reject this argument. First, the 50% rule requires only that employers accept qualified U.S. workers who apply for jobs during the first half of the H-2 contract period. 20 C.F.R. Sec. 655.203(e). Second, the INS regulations require employers to interview and hire qualified U.S. workers before they petition for the admission of foreign workers, even if there is a business justification for preferring the foreign workers as a class. As the First Circuit has noted: 26 We recognize that appellee's business depends on the proper harvesting of its crop during the brief span of weeks when the apples are ready, and that there may be good reason for appellee's wish to be able to rely on the experienced crews of British West Indians who have performed well in the past, but here that preference collides with the mandate of a Congressional policy. To recognize a legal right to use alien workers upon a showing of business justification would be to negate the policy which permeates the immigration statutes, that domestic workers rather than aliens be employed wherever possible. 27 Elton Orchards v. Brennan, 508 F.2d 493, 500 (1 Cir.1974). Since employers must hire qualified domestic workers at the beginning of the harvest despite any preference for foreign labor, we cannot say it is inconsistent to require the same preferment for American workers once the harvest has begun. 28