Thirteen U.S. representatives are asking U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche to review an administrative law judge’s decision in a case related to advertising specifically to H-1B visa holders.
U.S. Reps. Chip Roy (R–Austin), Keith Self (R–McKinney), Randy Weber (R–Friendswood), Brian Babin (R–Woodville), and other representatives throughout the country wrote that the Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer’s (OCAHO) decision “may significantly limit protections against discriminatory advertising and recruitment.”
The Friday letter addressed the recent dismissal of a 2024 case involving the U.S. Tech Workers (USTW) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In its August 12 dismissal order, the judge found that U.S. Tech Workers had not alleged sufficient facts to support its discrimination claims.
USTW describes its mission as “[fostering] a movement that unites tech workers, pressures the federal government for visa program reform and ensures companies hire U.S. tech workers first before recruiting abroad,” while BCG helps to integrate artificial intelligence into various industries and companies.
“The case involved allegations that BCG participated in ‘P-33 Chicago H-1B Connect,’ an initiative designed specifically to recruit H-1B visa holders in the Chicago area,” the representatives wrote. “[USTW] alleged that the initiative discouraged U.S. citizens from applying and therefore violated the citizenship-status protections of Section 274B of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).”
The INA section referred to by the letter addresses unfair immigration-related employment practices and notes that a person or entity cannot discriminate in hiring on the basis of citizenship status.
“The decision suggests that Section 274B does not provide a cause of action for discriminatory advertising and that the advertising designed to prioritize nonimmigrants on the basis of national origin or citizenship does not discriminate against American workers,” the signers wrote.
