In early October, Judge Jeffrey S. White of the US District Court for the Northern District of California temporarily blocked further implementation of section 2 of the June 22 presidential proclamation (PP 10052) that suspended entry into the US for H-1B highly-skilled workers, H-2B nonagricultural workers, J-1 exchange visitors including interns, trainees, teachers, camp counselors, and au pairs, and L international intracompany transfers, and all their dependents. This injunction is not nationwide and only applies to plaintiffs and members of the plaintiff groups. In his opinion, Judge White criticized the June 22 presidential proclamation noting it did not address the issue it was supposed to fix, namely helping the domestic economy by providing more job opportunities for Americans. “[T]he Proclamation completely disregards both economic reality and the pre-existing statutory framework. Furthermore, without any consideration of the impact on American firms and their business planning, the Proclamation abruptly changed the scope of immigration policy in the United States.”
In response, the Department of State (DOS) issued a statement clarifying how they would comply with the preliminary injunction:
On October 1, 2020, a federal district court in National Association of Manufacturers v. Department of Homeland Security (NAM) enjoined the government from enforcing section 2 of Presidential Proclamation (PP) 10052 against named plaintiffs and members of the plaintiff associations. The named plaintiffs include: the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation, TechNet, and Intrax, Inc. Therefore, any J-1, H-1B, H-2B, or L-1 applicant who is either sponsored (as an exchange visitor) by, petitioned by, or whose petitioner is a member of, one of the above named organizations is no longer subject to PP 10052’s entry restrictions.
The DOS further noted that many US Embassies/Consulate are still operating at a reduced capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but that applicants for H-1B, H-2B, J-1, or L-1 visas (or their dependents) who are able to obtain an appointment should be prepared to additionally demonstrate in the interview that their sponsor or petitioner/employer is a named plaintiff, or a member of one of the named plaintiff organizations.
Linda Kelly, a senior vice president and general counsel at the National Association of Manufacturers, one of the plaintiffs, praised the preliminary injunction: “We are competing with the rest of the world to find and develop top talent to support innovation in our industry…[the] decision is a temporary win for manufacturers committed to building that innovation in the United States.”