Saxbe v. Bustos
Headline: Border workers who commute from Mexico and Canada are treated as permanent residents; the Court allows them to re-enter without visas and exempts them from labor certification, affecting daily and seasonal cross-border workers.
Holding:
- Allows commuters to re-enter using green cards without immigrant visas.
- Exempts commuter workers from labor certification and numerical limits.
- Protects income of border communities and employers relying on commuter labor.
Summary
Background
The case involved workers who live in Canada or Mexico and cross into the United States to work either daily or seasonally. The United Farm Workers Organizing Committee sued the Attorney General and the Immigration and Naturalization Service to challenge the practice of treating those commuters as immigrants allowed to re-enter with a green card and without labor-certification. The District Court dismissed the suit, the Court of Appeals allowed daily commuters but rejected seasonal commuters, and the Supreme Court agreed to resolve the split with a Ninth Circuit decision.
Reasoning
The central question was whether commuters fit the law’s phrase “lawfully admitted for permanent residence, who is returning from a temporary visit abroad.” The Court concluded that commuters are immigrants who have that status and are returning from temporary absences. The decision relied on statutory definitions, a long administrative practice dating back to 1927, and congressional materials that did not displace that practice. The Court held commuters may use green cards to re-enter and are not subject to the labor-certification and numerical limits that apply to other foreign workers. It treated daily and seasonal commuters the same and said Congress should change the rule if different treatment is desired.
Real world impact
The ruling means many cross-border workers can return to existing U.S. jobs without employer labor-certification and without quota limits. The opinion cites tens of thousands of daily commuters, thousands of seasonal commuters, and hundreds of thousands of dependents who rely on commuter income. The Court warned that ending or changing the commuter system raises large economic and diplomatic issues best addressed by Congress.
Dissents or concurrances
Four Justices dissented, arguing the statute’s plain words require an actual permanent dwelling and that long administrative practice cannot override clear statutory language; they warned the Court stretched the law to reach this outcome.
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