Immigration Not Top Priority for Scalia at Labor Department

Eugene Scalia‘s new job as head of the Labor Department isn’t likely to spell big changes in immigration policy.

“He’s been a labor lawyer for large companies,” said Greg Siskind, an immigration attorney with Siskind Susser in Memphis, Tenn., who attended the University of Chicago Law School with Scalia. That’s “exactly the kind of guy you’d want to get in there” from a business immigration perspective, he said.

But that isn’t necessarily a signal that there will be a shift away from the Trump administration’s scrutiny of employment-based visas, particularly the H-1B specialty occupation visa.

“He’s going to have to carry out the policies of the administration,” said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. “I would imagine that whatever his own leanings are,” they would “be sublimated” in favor of White House policies, said Mehlman, whose organization supports lower immigration levels.

Homeland Security More Active

The epicenter of Trump administration business immigration changes hasn’t been the DOL, but rather the Department of Homeland Security, which has issued new policies and increased visa denials.

The DOL does have a hand in the business immigration process. The agency engages in a labor certification process to ensure that hiring foreign workers won’t displace U.S. workers or harm their wages and working conditions. It also enforces visa program rules, particularly with respect to wage requirements.

Under former Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, the agency launched a more aggressive enforcement effort aimed at temporary employment visa programs.

Last fall, it also changed the labor condition application to require staffing and consulting companies that hire H-1B visa workers to name their clients. The DOL subsequently started revealing the names of those clients to the public as part of its quarterly data disclosure, in an apparent effort to shame those companies.

Little Mention of Immigration

Scalia, who was confirmed by the Senate Sept. 26 and sworn in Sept. 30, is known for a business-friendly background when it comes to labor and employment law. During the confirmation process, discussion focused on upcoming DOL regulations on overtime pay, the employment rights of the LGBT community, and his attitude toward labor unions.

There was little, if any, discussion about his views on immigration policy. The few mentions portrayed Scalia as immigrant-friendly.

For example, Republican Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander’s floor speech in favor of Scalia’s confirmation quoted Cecilia Madan, “a deaf immigrant who Mr. Scalia helped with an employment issue,” who referred to Scalia as “advocate for justice and fairness in the workforce.”

During his confirmation hearing, Scalia also mentioned his focus “on low-wage and immigrant workers” while serving as solicitor for the DOL in 2002.

Siskind said he doesn’t know the level of pressure the White House might put on Scalia. But right now, immigration doesn’t appear “super high on his priority list,” he said.

“If there are going to be issues for him, it’s going to be the labor issues,” Siskind said.