Author Archives: Frank Rizzo

Eight chapters of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys — a union that represents thousands of public interest attorneys and advocates in the New York City metro area — have voted to authorize strikes as workers hope their sectoral bargaining strategy will lead to more favorable deals with managers.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list the Barrens darter (Etheostoma forbesi), a fish species from Cannon, Coffee, Grundy, and Warren Counties, Tennessee, as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). This determination also serves as our 12-month finding on a petition to list the Barrens darter. After a review of the best scientific and commercial data available, we find that listing the species is warranted. Accordingly, we propose to list the Barrens darter as an endangered species under the Act. If we finalize this rule as proposed, it would add this species to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and extend the Act's protections to the species. We find that designating critical habitat for this species is not determinable at this time.

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is adding regulations to implement a February 6, 2025 International Criminal Court-related Executive order. The rule also includes information relevant to a May 9, 2025 Executive order relating to requirements for final rules published in the Federal Register. OFAC intends to supplement these regulations with a more comprehensive set of regulations, which may include additional interpretive guidance and definitions, general licenses, and other regulatory provisions.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) at the Department of Justice (DOJ) will be submitting the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

Through this notice, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announces that the Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary) is terminating the designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The designation of Haiti is set to expire on August 3, 2025. After reviewing country conditions and consulting with appropriate U.S. Government agencies, the Secretary determined that Haiti no longer continues to meet the conditions for designation for TPS. The Secretary, therefore, is terminating the TPS designation of Haiti as required by statute. This termination is effective September 2, 2025. After September 2, 2025, nationals of Haiti (and aliens having no nationality who last habitually resided in Haiti) who have been granted TPS under Haiti's designation will no longer have TPS.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), Department of Justice (DOJ), will be submitting the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Department of Labor (Department or DOL) is proposing to amend its regulations governing the certification of agricultural labor or services to be performed by temporary foreign workers in H-2A nonimmigrant status (H-2A workers) and enforcement of the contractual obligations applicable to employers of such nonimmigrant workers. This notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM or proposed rule) that would rescind provisions contained within a final rule published by the Department on April 29, 2024, which adopted a number of unnecessary, burdensome, and costly requirements on employers. Specifically, these provisions include, but are not limited to, substantial new requirements associated with the material terms and conditions offered by employers to H-2A workers that are not commonly provided to other U.S. workers, including progressive discipline policies for cause-based employment terminations, anti-retaliation measures for certain workers engaged in self-organization and other concerted activities, and expanding the authority and scope for a State Workforce Agency (SWA) to discontinue employment services to employers, which prevents those employers from accessing the H-2A program, while eliminating employers' option to request a hearing prior to the SWA's final determination. Further, the final rule imposed extensive highly-sensitive data collection requirements on employers related to their use of foreign labor recruiters, including personal names and physical addresses abroad, as well as detailed personal information associated with all owners of the employers, operators of the place(s) of employment, and supervisor(s) and manager(s) of workers employed under the terms of the work contract, with very limited or no practical utility to the agency's statutory decision making. A brief summary of this rulemaking can be found at www.regulations.gov by searching by the RIN: 1205-AC25.

The Secretary of Homeland Security has determined, pursuant to law, that it is necessary to waive certain laws, regulations, and other legal requirements in order to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads in the vicinity of the international border in the state of Texas.