Republican Gov. Kristi Noem opened a hotline for complaints about South Dakota colleges and is calling on the state’s higher education governing board to ban drag shows, she announced Friday.

In a letter to the South Dakota Board of Regents, Noem said states have allowed ‘liberal ideologies to poison their colleges and universities.’

‘On campuses across the country, students have been taught the importance of diversity and equity and given access to ‘safe spaces’ instead of learning to tolerate the disagreement, discomfort, and dissent that they will experience in the real world,’ Noem wrote.

She called on the college oversight board to increase graduation rates, remove references to ‘preferred pronouns’ in school materials, cut administrative costs and ensure universities are not accepting any money from China.

An Associated Press request for comment to the regents was not immediately returned Friday.

Noem pitched the hotline to regents as a way to ‘keep our institutions accountable — and ensure that we are all aware of what is happening at our taxpayer-funded colleges and universities.’ She wrote that information gathered from the hotline will guide policy changes.

‘As I work with our Board of Regents and Board of Technical Education to chart our path for higher education, we are giving students, faculty, and parents this tool to help voice any concerns so that they can be addressed,’ Noem said in a statement.

Republican Tim Rave, a former South Dakota House speaker and Noem appointee, leads the Board of Regents. Noem recently appointed two new members to the board: Jim Lochner, formerly of Tyson Foods, and Doug Morrison, the former Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis director.

On Friday, Noem said she plans to make more appointments soon.

The Board of Regents in December ordered a review of university campus events and its policy on minors attending them after a drag show at South Dakota State University faced criticism from conservative lawmakers for being advertised as family friendly.

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Democrats in Nevada have made last minute changes to a bill intended to crack down on the possession of fentanyl by significantly softening the legislation’s threshold of how much someone could possess that would be considered low-level trafficking.

The amended bill, SB35, was presented to the state legislature by Nevada’s progressive Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford last week, just hours before the deadline for it to pass out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee. 

According to Ford, the amendment came as a ‘compromise between the many groups with an interest in this issue,’ and included the drop of the low-level trafficking charge for fentanyl possession from 4 grams to 28 grams.

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, 28 grams of fentanyl is enough to kill up to 14,000 people, while 4 grams is enough to kill up to 2,000 people.

A source familiar with the debate over the bill told Fox News Digital that the back and forth between Democrats over the threshold for trafficking charges included concerns over how the state would prosecute fentanyl being mixed with other substances. 

The source added that there was also concern a stricter threshold would be akin to ‘war on drugs’ policies that cracked down on low-level users as harshly as drug traffickers.

The push for the new crime bill comes amid a worsening fentanyl crisis and just a few years after Nevada Democrats, with Ford’s support, passed a 2019 bill that weakened penalties for larger amounts of drug possession, including fentanyl. 

The 2019 bill, AB236, made it possible for a person in possession of fentanyl to only be charged with a misdemeanor unless the amount possessed was at least 100 grams, an amount the DEA says could kill between 300,000 and 500,000 people. Prior to this bill’s passage, the previous low-level trafficking threshold was set at 4 grams, the amount the new bill would have reverted to until Democrats’ last minute changes.

In contrast to Democrats’ push for the softened drug trafficking threshold, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo has called for any possession of fentanyl at all to be classified as a felony offense.

Most voters think artificial intelligence technology will change the way we live in the U.S. in the next few years. Whether that is a good thing or bad remains to be seen.

In the latest Fox News national survey, voters were asked their main reactions — without the aid options — when they think about artificial intelligence. 

Most often, the response was negative, with the top mentions being afraid and dangerous (16%). Others think it is generally a bad idea (11%) or they can’t trust it (8%).

There are positive sentiments as well, albeit in smaller numbers. Voters say AI is innovative (7%), and they are impressed or excited (6%) or cautiously optimistic (5%) about it.

Seven percent say AI confuses them, 6% think of robots, 6% have mixed feelings and 4% feel it needs more research.

Among most demographic groups, the top response is afraid or dangerous, especially for women, Gen Xers and Republicans.  

‘The power of AI and the speed of its development clearly weighs on the minds of many,’ says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News Poll along with Democrat Chris Anderson. ‘We’re not quite at the ‘red pill, blue pill’ stage like Neo, but we are worried about where all this is headed.’

In a blog post published Monday, OpenAI leaders wrote, ‘It’s conceivable that, within the next ten years, AI systems will exceed expert skill level in most domains and carry out as much productive activity as one of today’s largest corporations.’

Still, just 4% of voters say AI makes them think it is a threat to jobs.

An overwhelming majority agree artificial intelligence will change the way we live in the U.S., and it’ll be in the next few years (86%).

Forty-three percent feel it will change a lot while another 43% say just some. Twelve percent believe it won’t change much (9%) if at all (3%).

Over half of voters are concerned about artificial intelligence technology (56%), which lands it in 11th place (and tied with climate change) among a list of 15 concerns. Women, nonwhite voters and voters over age 65 are among those most concerned while men, White voters and voters under age 35 are the least worried.

So who is using artificial intelligence technology like ChatGPT?

A quarter of voters overall say they have used it, and 74% say they haven’t.

Voters under age 35 (44%), men (30%), Hispanic voters (33%), and Democrats (28%) are more likely than voters over age 65 (9%), women (19%), Black voters (21%), White voters (22%), and Republicans (20%) to have used the technology.

CLICK HERE FOR TOPLINE AND CROSS TABS

Conducted May 19-22, 2023, under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with 1,001 registered voters nationwide randomly selected from a voter file who spoke with live interviewers on landline phones and cellphones. The total sample has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

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The Dallas Independent School District has apologized for sending grade schoolers home with Winnie the Pooh-themed books on proper conduct during active shooter situations and failing to issue any guidance or warning to parents beforehand.The book, ‘Stay Safe,’ outlines the ‘run, hide, fight’ safety plan in a manner its publisher deems appropriate for young children.‘Recently a booklet was sent home so parents could discuss with their children how to stay safe in such cases,’ the school district said of the controversy. ‘Unfortunately, we did not provide parents any guide or context. We apologize for the confusion and are thankful to parents who reached out to assist us in being better partners.’

Cindy Campos’ 5-year-old son was so excited about the Winnie the Pooh book he got at school that he asked her to read it with him as soon as he got home. But her heart sank when she realized it was a tutorial about what to do when ‘danger is near,’ advising kids to lock the doors, turn off the lights and quietly hide.

As they read the ‘Stay Safe’ book the school sent home without explanation or a warning to parents, she began crying, leaving her son confused.

‘It’s hard because you’re reading them a bedtime story and basically now you have to explain in this cute way what the book is about, when it’s not exactly cute,’ Campos said.

She said her first-grader, who goes to the same elementary school as her pre-K son, also got a copy of the book last week. After posting about it in an online neighborhood group, she found other concerned parents whose kids had also brought the book home.

The district’s decision to send kids home with the book has made waves. California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, tweeted: ‘Winnie the Pooh is now teaching Texas kids about active shooters because the elected officials do not have the courage to keep our kids safe and pass common sense gun safety laws.’

It sparked enough of a reaction to warrant an explanation from the Dallas Independent School District, which said in a statement Friday that it works ‘hard every day to prevent school shootings’ by dealing with online threats and improving security measures. It also conducts active shooter drills.

‘Recently a booklet was sent home so parents could discuss with their children how to stay safe in such cases,’ the district said. ‘Unfortunately, we did not provide parents any guide or context. We apologize for the confusion and are thankful to parents who reached out to assist us in being better partners.’

The district did not say how many schools and grades in the district received the books.

Campos said the book was ‘haunting’ her and that it seemed especially ‘tone deaf’ to send it home with kids without explanation around the time the state was marking the anniversary of last year’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, when a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers. It also comes as Texas’ Republican-controlled Legislature wraps up a session in which it rejected virtually all proposals to tighten gun laws but did pass legislation banning school libraries from having books that contain descriptions, illustrations or audio depicting sexual conduct not relevant to the required school curriculum.

Active shooter drills have become common in American schools, though there’s disagreement over whether they do more harm than good.

Campos said that although she doesn’t disagree with the book’s intent, she wished it would have come with a warning to parents so that she could introduce it to her kids at the right time and in the right way. She said she has discussed school shootings with her kids, and that she might have chosen to wait to read them the book until there was another attack.

‘I would have done it on my own time,’ said Campos, who first spoke to the Oak Cliff Advocate.

The book’s cover says: ‘If there is danger, let Winnie the Pooh and his crew show you what to do.’ Inside, it includes passages such as ‘If danger is near, do not fear. Hide like Pooh does until the police appear. Doors should be locked and the passage blocked. Turn off the light to stay out of sight.’

The book was published by Praetorian Consulting, a Houston-based firm that provides safety, security and crisis management training and services. The company, which didn’t respond to messages seeking comment, says on its website that it uses age-appropriate material to teach the concepts of ‘run, hide, fight’ — the approach authorities say civilians should take in active shooter situations.

The company also says on its website that its K-6 curriculum features the characters of Winnie the Pooh, which are now in the public domain and even featured in a recent horror movie.

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EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., is calling on the federal government to use artificial intelligence technology to better secure the southwestern border.

During an interview with Fox News Digital, Mace suggested the rapidly advancing technology could be used to enhance border patrol agents’ monitoring capabilities as border officials continue to see a record number of illegal aliens attempting to cross into the U.S. through Mexico.

On one front, she said, AI could help better collect ‘biometrics of everyone that comes across the border, especially when we’re talking about by land and illegally.

‘And if you’re using AI to find their biometrics in a database or multiple databases, I believe it can be done in a much swifter fashion,’ the congresswoman explained. ‘I think that that kind of technology could be used when you’re driving through the border.

‘For example, you don’t have to just stop and take a picture. … Using AI, using the advances in photography and video, AI could actually help identify who those individuals are as well.

‘There’s just a lot of opportunity there to do that, especially with people crossing illegally into our country, when you’re using biometrics and comparing it against a … terrorism watchlist. That’s really important. I think AI can make that those matches happen a lot faster, too,’ Mace added.

Mace said she recently spoke with border officials about how their existing biometrics technology is being used to keep illegal immigration under control and argued that AI’s rapidly advancing technology would be able to build on that.

‘I actually met with border patrol this week and looked at what they’re doing from a biometrics and cyber kind of standpoint as well,’ Mace said. ‘And any border patrol folks that will meet with us and talk to us about technology, we want to have that meeting. We want to talk to them, want to make sure that they have support.’

While conceding that conversation dealt with technology more broadly, Mace added, ‘When you’re talking about technology, AI inevitably is going to have to be involved. If you’re using multiple databases or multiple galleries to search for someone’s biometrics when they’re coming through the border … AI will make that process better, faster.’

However, she also issued a broad warning about the technology’s downsides.

‘We do use AI in different agencies here at the federal level,’ Mace said. ‘There’s some really great opportunity to find abuse and waste and fraud in the federal government. But, at the same time, you know, it can be abused, and that’s where we want to make sure that consumers are protected.’

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. declared he ‘can’t wait’ to join Twitter CEO Elon Musk on the platform just one day after Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a joint event with the latter, announcing he was jumping into the 2024 race for the White House.

Kennedy posted the comment in response to Musk tweeting that ‘all Presidential candidates are most welcome’ on Twitter.

Fox News Digital reached out to Twitter and Kennedy’s campaign to ask whether there were any plans for the two to appear together in a similar format as the DeSantis event, but did not immediately receive responses.

Musk faced intense flak after the Twitter Spaces feature event with DeSantis was mired by repeated technical glitches on Wednesday evening in a black eye for the social media platform. Twitter’s mobile app repeatedly crashed and users complained that they were unable to hear the broadcast.

However, the technical issues appear to have not deterred Kennedy, who previously found an ally in Musk on the issue of Democratic primary debates.

Last month, Musk ripped the Democratic National Committee for choosing not to hold debates between the three declared candidates from the party, essentially coronating President Biden in his bid for re-election.

‘DNC has already announced that it will not allow any debates in 2024 primary. Biden is not to be challenged. Everyone on the Democratic side must shut up and fall in line. Not having debates is undemocratic and ridiculous. No progressive should agree to this kind of power grab,’ Musk tweeted.

Aside from Biden, Kennedy is also facing author Marianne Williamson in the race for the Democratic nomination.

Fox News’ Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.

As Texas continues to grapple with an ongoing crisis at the southern border, now into its third year, Republican-led states are stepping up by sending troops, law enforcement and other resources to help secure the southern border.

This week both Tennessee and Nebraska announced they would be sending personnel to the border, joining Mississippi and Florida in doing so. Tennessee announced a deployment of 100 National Guard members, while Nebraska announced the deployment of 10 state troopers.

‘America continues to face an unprecedented border crisis that threatens our nation’s security and the safety of Tennesseans,’ Tenn. Gov. Bill Lee said in a statement on Wednesday. ‘The federal government owes Americans a plan to secure our country, and in the meantime, states continue to answer this important call to service. I am again authorizing the Tennessee National Guard to help secure the Southern border, and I commend these troops for providing critical support.’ 

‘Our nation has a serious and unchecked threat on its hands following President Biden’s decision to end Title 42,’ Nebraska Gov. Jim Phillen said. ‘Nebraska is committed to using every tool in its tool box to help stop the influx of illegal immigration at our southern border. Illegal immigration hurts our nation’s security, undermines the rule of law, and threatens the wellbeing of our state.’

Texas has been on the front lines of the crisis since it began in the early months of 2021. While the causes are widely debated — with Republicans blaming the Biden administration’s policies and the administration blaming Republicans for failing to provide funding and immigration reform — the numbers have been enormous.

There were more than 1.7 million migrant encounters in FY 2021, and more than 2.3 million in FY22. There have so far been over 1.4 million migrant encounters in FY 23 recorded until the end of April, with five months still left of the fiscal year.

Texas has surged resources to the border with Operation Lone Star, while the Biden administration has also touted its own resources it has sent to the border, including at the ports of entry and extra processing power. But now states with Republican governors are mobilizing, particularly as the Title 42 public health order has ended — which allowed for the rapid removal of migrants at the border due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had announced last week that his state was deploying resources to aid Texas.

The governor’s office said Florida has more than 1,100 assets and resources available to assist, including 101 Highway Patrol personnel, 200 Department of Law Enforcement officers, 800 National Guard soldiers, emergency management personnel, 17 unmanned drones and 10 vessels, including airboats.

‘The impacts of Biden’s Border Crisis are felt by communities across the nation, and the federal government’s abdication of duty undermines the sovereignty of our country and the rule of law,’ DeSantis said in a statement.

‘At my direction, state agencies including law enforcement and the Florida National Guard are being deployed to Texas, with assets including personnel, boats and planes. While Biden ignores the crisis he created, Florida stands ready to help Texas respond to this crisis,’ he said.

Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Chris Olivarez wrote in response, ‘We welcome the support from the state of Florida as they will provide additional law enforcement resources to help combat criminal activity & interdict deadly narcotics.’

A day later, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said this state is mobilizing National Guard troops to help secure the border.

‘What happens at the border doesn’t stay there. Drugs and people are trafficked to every state in the nation – including Mississippi,’ Reeves said. ‘To keep Mississippians safe and limit the impact of our nation’s open borders, the Mississippi National Guard’s 112th Military Police Battalion has been mobilized and is supporting Customs and Border Protection officers and agents along the Southwest border.’

The Biden administration has been cautious about such efforts, with officials recently suggesting that the move by Florida was politically motivated.

‘Outstanding coordination is taking place at the local level each and every day. We have seen, however, at times that Gov. DeSantis and [Texas Gov. Greg Abbott] take actions that are being done really for purely political reasons and that do not involve the kind of coordination that we really need to see at the border,’ Department of Homeland Security official Blas Nunez-Neto told reporters last week.

‘We are confident in our men and women on the front lines, ability to conduct their border operations in a safe, humane and secure manner. And we again call on the governors to make sure that any steps they take are done in coordination with our federal personnel,’ he said.

Meanwhile, numbers have plummeted at the border compared to the highs seen in the days leading up to the end of Title 42, when agents encountered over 10,000 migrants a day. Numbers have since dropped to an average of around 3,000 a day, officials said last week.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressional lawmakers agreed that AI needs federal oversight, but several were skeptical that President Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris were capable of leading the effort.

‘I wouldn’t trust Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to be able to successfully operate an iPhone, much less be a key focal point of AI policy,’ Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz told Fox News. ‘That said, there are some leading minds in the Democratic Party here on the Hill who I think are evaluating these issues with great thoughtfulness: Ted Lieu, Ro Khanna.’

Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher told Fox News: ‘Neither the president nor the vice president should run AI. It’s a very complicated subject.’

WHO DO LAWMAKERS WANT TO RUN AI FOR THE WHITE HOUSE? WATCH HERE:

Biden and Harris met tech executives earlier this month to discuss potential risks and opportunities regarding AI. This week, the White House announced new initiatives to improve AI research and development, study its impact on the education system and invite public comment on AI-related priorities to ensure ‘equity.’

The Biden administration, Capitol Hill lawmakers and AI developers are beginning to come to a consensus that AI needs regulations to manage risks. But who should run point is still a point of contention.

Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Democrat, said Biden and Harris should lead the White House’s AI efforts as a team.

‘No one has a real handle on it and no one has the right prescription, so you’re going to need both of them involved in AI,’ she told Fox News.

But Rep. Tim Burchett disagreed.

‘We need to address it, but those two are not the ones,’ the Tennessee Republican said.

‘The government’s involvement in that will make it worse,’ Burchett continued. ‘The market needs to drive this thing.’

A handful of D.C. resident similarly told Fox News last week that Harris wouldn’t be able to effectively run the executive office’s AI efforts.

Some lawmakers said a commission of AI experts would best push the White House’s AI initiatives. 

‘I don’t have a whole lot of faith in either President Biden or Vice President Harris, but I think we need to have industry experts in the room, folks that understand the technology behind AI,’ Republican Rep. Nathaniel Moran said. ‘That can help both the legislative and the executive branch work through what are the practical problems with AI.’ 

Rep. Dan Crenshaw doubted Biden or Harris could ‘really do something with AI.’

‘Maybe it’s a commission that studies it,’ the Texas Republican said. 

To watch the full interviews with lawmakers, click here.

Pennsylvania Republicans’ prospects in their bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Bob Casey hinge on the pending campaign announcements of two high-profile candidates.Hedge fund CEO David McCormick, who narrowly lost his party’s nomination to cardiothoracic surgeon and television personality Mehmet Oz in last year’s Senate race, has shored up the support of moderates, party leaders, and top officials.Meanwhile, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a pro-Trump hardliner who suffered a landslide defeat at the hands of then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro in last year’s gubernatorial race, has long teased a Senate bid and is expected to announce his intent to run Thursday night.

The GOP primary field in Pennsylvania to challenge Democratic Sen. Bob Casey remains wide open, with the hopes of top party officials hanging on the potential entry of a high-profile candidate in a top-tier battleground state contest that could help define the Republican Party’s path forward in 2024.

Former hedge fund CEO David McCormick is the favorite of party leaders and has drawn pledges of financial support from top Republican officials — should he decide to run. Meanwhile, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a hard-right lawmaker who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump in last year’s race for governor but lost in a landslide, has said he will announce Thursday night whether he will run for Senate.

McCormick is facing a complicated decision, with Trump seeking the party’s nomination for president. A Mastriano candidacy could further complicate McCormick’s path.

At the very least, it will ‘force McCormick to go spend millions to defend himself when that money would be better used in a general election or to help other candidates statewide,’ said Sam DeMarco, a McCormick ally and chair of the Allegheny County GOP.

For Republicans, Pennsylvania is a top target in their quest to recapture the Senate majority, while Democrats face a difficult Senate map in 2024.

Of 34 seats up for election, Democrats must defend incumbents in red states — Montana, Ohio and West Virginia — and multiple swing states, including Pennsylvania, if they are to hold their 51-seat majority.

The prospect of a Mastriano victory in a primary is prompting handwringing in some GOP circles.

Mastriano has spent the last few months saying that he could win a Senate primary ‘hands down’ and blaming the party establishment for his 15-point loss in November’s election for governor.

But many Republican officials say Mastriano’s subpar political skills, inability to raise money and extreme positions on abortion — among other issues — will guarantee a Casey victory in a state that has long embraced more moderate voices.

Republican hopes for victory may rest on McCormick, who narrowly lost the GOP nomination for Senate in 2022 to Dr. Mehmet Oz.

McCormick has promises of support from party brass, including a super PAC linked to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

McCormick also has deep pockets and connections across spheres of politics, business and government from which to draw endorsements and campaign contributions — none of which were enough to prevail against Oz, the Trump-backed candidate who went on to lose the general election to Democrat John Fetterman.

If he runs, McCormick may have to share a ticket with Trump, who castigated McCormick in last year’s primary and continues to tell the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

In a book he published in March, McCormick told of an exchange with Trump in which the former president told him that, to win last year’s Senate primary, McCormick would need to say the 2020 election was stolen.

‘I made it clear to him that I couldn’t do that. Three days later, Trump endorsed Mehmet Oz,’ McCormick wrote.

Trump went on to campaign against McCormick, deriding him at one point as the ‘candidate of special interests and globalists and the Washington establishment.’

McCormick lost to Oz by fewer than 1,000 votes.

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Republicans in the House and Senate are questioning reported processing delays in the H-2A agricultural worker visa program — and asking if it is related to comments made by a Labor Department official they said may show ‘bias’ against the controversial program.

On Thursday, Committee on Education and the Workforce Chairman Virginia Foxx and Workforce Protection Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Kiley wrote to Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su raising concerns that employers applying for labor certifications for H-2A visas — which are for agricultural workers — are facing ‘substantial delays.’

‘For many farmers and ranchers, especially those with perishable crops, timely processing of applications at DOL and timely arrivals of guest workers are crucial. The planting and harvesting windows offer only a short amount of time to meet the season’s needs. Our understanding is that this worsening problem is caused by unnecessary and avoidable delays at DOL,’ they say.

The lawmakers note a letter sent to Su earlier this month from Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which noted comments by a regional agriculture enforcement coordinator at DOL’s Wage and Hour Division in a news article.

In the article for PRISM, Mike Rios is quoted as saying that the H-2A program ‘literally is the purchase of humans to perform difficult work under terrible conditions, sometimes including subhuman living conditions.’

Rios is also quoted as saying: ‘You can throw a rock and hit a violation in the agricultural industry.’

The comments are a repeat of long-standing concerns that critics of the program have expressed, arguing that temporary visa programs are often accompanied by exploitation and abuse. Supporters of the program say they are needed to tackle worker shortages.

Foxx and Kiley say the comments are ‘disturbing and puzzling’ as the laws and regulations DOL enforces are supposed to prevent such conditions — including those governing wages must pay those who are employed under the program.

‘The clear bias against farmers expressed in Mr. Rios’ quotes raises the question of whether DOL may be purposely delaying the processing of H-2A labor certification applications because of hostility to the H-2A program and to the agricultural employers who participate in the program,’ they write.

Their comments echo those of the letter sent by Sen. Cassidy.

‘If the officials tasked with enforcing the H-2A program believe the system amounts to ‘wage theft’ and ‘the purchase of humans to perform difficult work under terrible conditions,’ then either DOL is currently unable to competently enforce the law or these statements reflect a startling bias against American farmers who use the program,’ he wrote.

Foxx and Kiley ask the DOL for data on H-2A certifications, the reason for delays in processing, steps it has taken to address the delays and any additional steps it has planned.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson said that the views referenced in the letter ‘do not reflect those of the Department and we are committed to a fair and unbiased enforcement of the law.’

‘The H-2A visa program performs an important role in our economy by providing a vital workforce for the essential agricultural industry when U.S. workers are not available,’ the spokesperson said.

‘The Department of Labor’s role under the H-2A program is to effectively implement this program, which includes protecting worker’s rights and ensuring a level-playing field for law-abiding employers,’ the spokesperson said. ‘To be clear: workers should always be treated with dignity and respect. H-2A includes worker protection provisions that are enforced by the Department of Labor to combat against exploitative labor practices.’

The spokesperson went on to say that the agency is ‘laser-focused’ on ensuring that applications are processed in a timely manner ‘so that eligible U.S. employers are able to hire H-2A workers for agricultural needs when U.S. workers are not available.’