Labor Rights Rule for Foreign Farmworkers Blocked in 17 States

A federal judge in Georgia has granted a limited order blocking new Biden administration workplace organizing protections for seasonal farmworkers on H-2A visas in 17 states with Republican attorneys general.

Those states, which sued to challenge the US Labor Department’s rule, are likely to succeed in advancing claims that the measure violates the National Labor Relations Act, the US District Court for the Southern District of Georgia ruled Monday.

The issue before the court is whether the regulations, which took effect on June 28, created a right not previously bestowed by Congress, Judge Lisa G. Wood, a George W. Bush ...