Federal Judge Blocked Biden Foreign Farmworker Protections

Once again, the Biden administration has lost a battle on the immigration front.  

The Biden administration had passed a rule that would have allowed H-2A visa holders the right to unionize.  

A federal judge just blocked the rule, giving farm owners and GOP attorneys general a major win.  

No Unions 

At question was the right of foreign farmworkers to unionize.  

These are workers given H-2A visas solely to enter the country for work purposes.  

The Biden administration had extended federal protections to these workers, which would have granted them collective bargaining rights. In other words, the right to unionize.  

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman argued, "We should be working to help Kentucky’s farmers, not put them out of business. This unlawful and unnecessary rule from the Biden-Harris Administration would have made it harder to get farmers’ products to grocery store shelves and would have increased already high prices for families. 

"We will continue to do what’s right to stand up for Kentucky’s farmers." 

U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves ruled in favor of Kentucky farmers as well as the handful of red state AGs that had joined the suit.  

In his ruling, Judge Reeves stated, "In perhaps its most blatant arrogation of authority, the Final Rule seeks to extend numerous rights to H-2A workers which they did not previously enjoy through its worker voice and empowerment provisions. 

"The DOL justifies this attempted regulatory expansion as an effort to prevent the alleged ‘unfair treatment’ of H-2A workers by employers to protect similarly situated American workers. 

"The Final Rule not so sneakily creates substantive collective bargaining rights for H-2A agricultural workers through the ‘prohibitions’ it places on their employers. 

"Framing these provisions as mere expansions of anti-retaliation policies, the DOL attempts to grant H-2A workers substantive rights without Congressional authorization."   

So, once again, it has been made clear that Biden has overstepped his authority, putting a rule in place that clearly should have gone through Congress.  

It has taken years to dial back all the overreach of this administration, but we are finally making headway.