iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
On the lawsuit that had been filed against President Trump’s order of a temporary ban entry to foreign workers into America, hearing from the court has been concluded and the judgment is awaited.
The US Chamber of Commerce had filed the lawsuit with support from tech firms such as Facebook, Apple and Microsoft. On June 22, Trump signed an order restricting the entry of H-1B and L-1 visa holders, who are employed in large numbers by these US firms.
While the lawsuit was initially filed in July by the US Chamber of Commerce and other trade organizations like the National Association of Manufacturers and National Retail Federation, it was later supported by the US tech giants.
The arguments were heard by Judge Jeffrey White in the San Francisco Federal court. Judgment for the case is awaited.
Trump said that this ban will help deal with the ongoing unemployment in America which spiked due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The unemployment rate is currently 8.4 percent, which was 14.7 percent earlier when the disease started spreading in April. As per reports, more than 30 million people lost their jobs in the first few months of the outbreak.
The complainants want to declare the ban imposed by Trump as unlawful. Paul Hughes, on behalf of the plaintiffs, said that there is no guarantee that disallowing them from entering the US would improve the employment situation in the US. He said that if a visa category is connected to the ban, there has to be a finding if these categories affect unemployment.
This is the second lawsuit filed by the H-1b visa holders as the verdict on the first one was disappointing for them. The first one was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and it represented around 171 H-1b visa holders and their dependents.
Judge White, after taking note of arguments from both sides, is expected to pronounce the judgment in the coming days. The date, however, is not clear.
There is a lot riding on this judgment for H-1B visa holders who were disappointed by the recent verdict in the first lawsuit. The first lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia representing close to 171 H-1B visa holders and their dependents.
Judge Amit P Mehta, in his judgment, had rejected the argument of the visa holders that the US President overrode his authority while banning their entry. Mehta, in a detailed 85-page ruling, rejected the plaintiffs’ statutory and constitutional challenges to the proclamations and said that the exceptions do not override the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
While these relaxations quoted by Judge Mehta does help a portion, this leaves the majority of them out. With the likelihood of the ban extending further, especially when a lot depends on the outcome of the elections, these visa holders are looking for relief that would get them back to the US.
