Immigration law firm Wasden Banias on behalf of 174 Indian nationals, filed a lawsuit challenging the recent presidential proclamation on H-1B visas that prevents them from returning to the United States.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has issued summons to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad F Wolf, and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia.
“The proclamation 10052’s H-1B/H-4 visa ban hurts the United States’ economy, separates families and defies the Congress. While the two former points render it unseemly, the latter point renders it unlawful,” said the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks an order declaring the presidential proclamation restriction on issuing new H-1B or H4 visas or admitting new H-1B or H-4 visa holders as illegal.
The US President Donald Trump on June 22 issued a proclamation putting restrictions on the entry of any foreign nationals on H-1B or H-4 visas till the end of the year.
“In the administration of our nation’s immigration system, we must remain mindful of 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.
Meanwhile, several lawmakers urged the court on Tuesday to reverse the work visa ban.
“Throughout this administration, the president has continued to lament the alleged abuses of the immigration system while failing to address the systemic problems that have persisted and allowed businesses and employers to exploit and underpay immigrant workers, guest workers and American workers,” the lawmakers wrote.
