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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR BUDGET PLAN DRAWS PROTESTS FROM IMMIGRATION LAWYERS
The American Immigration Lawyers Association has notified Congress that there are major problems with the Department of Labor's proposed budget for the 2000 fiscal year which begins in October. Part of the DOL plan calls for the alien labor certification programs to be transferred from the DOL's Employment and Training Administration to the DOL's Employment Standards Administration. The movement of the programs to the ESA would mean that one organization would oversee the administration of the labor certification program as well as enforcement of the rules. AILA argues that having one office handle administration and enforcement would create a serious conflict of interest. 
AILA also is complaining that the DOL budget contains no additional funding for the labor certification program and suggests that the DOL will impose a user fee that would go well beyond simply funding the administration of the labor certification program. The planned user fee would fund DOL enforcement actions as well as a new training program for workers supposedly displaced by labor certifications. The point of a labor certification is to prove that US workers are not displaced by an alien worker, so it would seem contradictory to make employers pay a user fee for this purpose. AILA supports a user fee if it is reasonable and only used for improving labor certification processing. 
One DOL plan will probably interest many. The DOL is writing a plan to turn the labor certification program into an attestation program similar to the H-1B program. Presumably, employers would attest under the potential for major penalties that it has recruited for the position and that no US workers are available. AILA has a cautious attitude regarding this proposal. According to AILA, DOL's record with attestation programs is spotty especially in light of the DOL's currently proposed H-1B regulations.