This article was prepared with the assistance of ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers, of which Loan Huynh is an active member.
On May 12, 2026, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced an enforcement action against Cloudera, Inc., a software firm based in Santa Clara, California, following allegations that it violated the Immigration and Nationality Act by unlawfully discriminating against U.S. workers in favor of foreign labor. The Employment and Training Administration (ETA), of DOL’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification, has suspended processing of all permanent labor certification applications filed by, or on behalf of, Cloudera for 180 days.
DOL said that an extension of the enforcement action is possible pending the results of a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation. DOJ’s Civil Rights Division alleged that Cloudera engineered a “non-functional” recruitment process that prevented qualified U.S. workers from applying for high-paying technology positions while certifying to ETA that no qualified U.S. workers were available. On April 28, 2026, DOJ filed a lawsuit against Cloudera.
