“This court rejects the position that the proclamation implicates the president’s foreign affairs powers simply because it affects immigration,”
US District Judge Jeffrey White
The statement refers to the June ban on H1-B, H-2B, J and L visas, which effectively halts granting those types of visas to multi-national companies looking to hire foreign nationals, as well as investors and cultural exchange beneficiaries.
Though limited in scope, US District Judge Jeffrey White’s injunction effectively allows thousands of companies to continue counting on an influx of foreign nationals to fill positions that have suffered from a shortage of US nationals.
The ruling applies exclusively to organizations that sued the administration and challenged the June ban on the visas mentioned above: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, National Retail Federation, TechNet, a technology industry group, and Intrax Inc., which sponsors cultural exchanges.
While Judge White explicitly stated that his ruling is limited to only those organizations, he also outlined its importance, stating that it will benefit “hundreds of thousands of American businesses of all sizes from a cross-section of economic sectors,” including Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc.
The National Association of Manufacturers represents 1,400 companies that would have been directly affected by the June ban. They stated the ruling will help with “crucial, hard-to-fill jobs to support economic recovery, growth and innovation when we most need it.”
This is the second time in three days that White blocked a significant change on immigration. On Tuesday, he stopped a wave of incoming fee increases for citizenship and several other immigration benefits benefits. Those increases were due to take effect within three days from the decision.