Attorney General Miyares Demanding Biden Administration Drop Rule That Prioritizes Migrant Workers Over American Workers

RICHMOND, Va. – Attorney General Jason Miyares today joined a 23-state coalition of state attorney generals in urging the U.S. Department of Labor to drop a proposed rule change that would allow foreign agricultural workers in the United States to form unions – a right that is denied to U.S. citizen farmworkers.

“It adds insult to injury seeing our own federal government proposing a rule change that focuses on ‘benefiting’ foreign nationals while high inflation and interest rates continue leaving American workers struggling to get by. Without congressional approval, the Biden Administration’s proposed rule change carries no legitimacy,” said Attorney General Miyares. “Frankly, the Department should have known better than this.”

The public comment letter argues that the proposed rule prioritizes the interests of foreign agricultural workers over United States citizens. The letter also argues that the proposed rule change is illegal in part, because Congress did not authorize the U.S. Department of Labor authority to grant unionization rights to migrant workers. “…Congress has already spoken on the issue,” the public letter reads. “And it has excluded all farmworkers from collective bargaining protections. There is no ambiguity in that.”

In addition to Attorney General Miyares, the attorneys general of the following states also signed on to the letter: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.

To read the letter, click here.

###