The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed and President Barack Obama signed the “Cromnibus” bill, approving a legislative budget to fund most government activities through September 2015 over criticism from some House Republicans that the bill did not block President Obama’s Executive Action on immigration (announced on November 20, 2014,  parts of which  will be effective as soon as it may be implemented  by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

House Republicans vowed to introduce separate legislation to block the president’s Executive Action in early 2015.  Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions recently confirmed that such an effort would be an immediate priority when the next Congress convenes in January.  At that point, Republicans will be more likely to get such legislation to President Obama’s desk and forcing him to exercise his veto power, as they also will control the Senate in the next Congress.

The House appears to be intent on maximizing attention on the issue.  While President Obama will not agree to block or limit his administration’s authority to implement the components of his just-announced Executive Action, the drama of a veto, a rarity during the first six years of this presidency, promises to keep immigration front and center in advance of the 2016 presidential election.  Political candidates’ debate on immigration, together with a recently filed lawsuit challenging the constitutional authority of the President’s Execution Action not two weeks after it was announced, will ensure the controversy over fixes to the nation’s immigration system will continue to take center stage.

Jackson Lewis will continue to follow legislative developments and counter-measures to the President’s Executive Action on immigration.

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Photo of Forrest G. Read IV Forrest G. Read IV

Forrest Read is a Principal in the Raleigh, North Carolina, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He has extensive experience in both business immigration law and employment law and has particular focus in legal issues in graduate medical education (GME).

Mr. Read’s immigration practice…

Forrest Read is a Principal in the Raleigh, North Carolina, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He has extensive experience in both business immigration law and employment law and has particular focus in legal issues in graduate medical education (GME).

Mr. Read’s immigration practice focuses on assisting employers in obtaining employment-based nonimmigrant visas (e.g., H-1B, L, O, TN) for foreign national employees and work-related immigrant (green card) visas, including PERM Labor Certifications, and advising employers on compliance with U.S. immigration laws and regulations. He has broad experience in advising large, mid-size and small employers on their various immigration needs and developing strategies to help them navigate through complex immigration issues. He also has particular experience in counseling employers in the health care industry and addressing immigration-related issues that arise for their broad range of health care professional employees (including advising on and obtaining employment authorization for medical residents and fellows and obtaining J-1 visa waivers for foreign national physicians completing their medical training in the United States). His immigration practice also includes defending employers in connection with Department of Labor H-1B and H-2B investigations.

Mr. Read’s employment law experience includes representing management, particularly academic medical centers in the GME context, in a wide array of workplace disputes and litigation before federal and state courts and administrative agencies, including matters related to discrimination, retaliation, harassment, disability, family and medical leave, various wage and hour issues, contracts, and intentional torts. He advises academic medical centers on the interplay between applicable academic law and employment law and the ramifications of what are divergent legal requirements and standards. Mr. Read also provides counsel with respect to the legal impact of competency standards for residents and trainees in GME, including situations involving discipline, remediation, and dismissal. He provides advice and guidance in the peer review process, including provision of verification and assessment of training in response to third party inquiries.

As a member of the Firm’s Corporate Diversity Counseling group, Mr. Read also has experience in providing assessments and making recommendations to corporate and institutional clients with respect to diversity and inclusion policies and initiatives, conducting related internal investigations, and shaping, developing and enforcing effective policies and initiatives to ensure consistency with client values and in furtherance of business goals and objectives.