US government agency says work rights given to H-1B spouses don’t harm US jobs

NEW DELHI: The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), on April 1, submitted to the court of appeals that the 'Save Jobs USA' lawsuit should be dismissed.
This lawsuit relates to the employment authorisation (EAD) that is available to certain H4 visa holders (ie spouses of those H-1B workers who are on track for a green card). Given that a proposal to rescind the H4-EAD is currently under review, this submission made by the DHS has come in as a surprise.Several voluntary bodies, fighting for continuation of the EAD, view it as a small victory.
However, DHS also submitted that the Appeals Court should not decide whether DHS had the statutory authority to issue the H4-EAD rule. In this context, it reiterates that the agency has taken the affirmative steps towards publishing a new rule that will remove H4 holders from employment authorisation eligibility.

DHS in its submission argues that 'Save Jobs USA' never established how its members who work only in the technology (IT) sector, would clearly or immediately be harmed by the H4-EAD rule which grants employment authorisation eligibility across a far broader range of sectors. As the district (lower) court recognised, the claims made by Save Jobs were 'overly speculative' and relied upon an implausible 'chain of allegations', states the submission.
For now, there is a bit of rejoicing among the H4-EAD community, nearly 84,360 of which are Indians. A posting by the 'Skilled Immigrants in America' (SIIA) on its Facebook page points out that group members had in meetings with US government officials, showcased that H4-EAD holders, which also include entrepreneurs, physicians and teachers, compliment the US work force.
"All the documentation seems to have helped USCIS in eventually taking a stand that H4-EAD holders are not a competition to US workers. We should keep in mind that this was one of the arguments that the USCIS had initially presented to repeal the H4-EAD and with their new court briefing they have reversed this stand," adds the post. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is an agency housed under DHS.
Similarly, SaveH4EAD, another group of volunteers, has tweeted that its members had provided hard data, backed by one of the largest surveys, to the government officials to demonstrate the benefits of the EAD program. "Today, DHS has submitted in court that H4-EAD doesn't harm US workers," adds the tweet.
In court, the next step is for Immigration Voice, a non-profit, which has been allowed to intervene in the law suit, to file its submission by April 8, to be followed by a response by the Save Jobs group.
Emily Neumann, immigration attorney says, "The Trump administration will soon be proposing a new regulation to end the H-4 EAD. It is currently under review with the Office of Management and Budget." "Regardless of the pending law suit or proposed new rule, the H-4 EAD remains available and USCIS continues to approve them. Eligible H4 holders can continue to file unless and until a final rule actually takes effect or a court says otherwise," states Neumann.