The attorney
who filed unsuccessful lawsuits after Disney IT workers who lost their jobs to citizens of India said she will not file further suits after the most recent one is dismissed.
The attorney who has filed several unsuccessful lawsuits after 250 Disney IT workers lost their jobs to citizens of India in 2014 acknowledged Wednesday it is a legal fight she cannot win.
“We have lost,” Sara Blackwell said during a news conference in Orlando. “Unfortunately, we lost because it’s legal.”
The information technology workers’ grievances became national headlines after some were forced to train their replacements in 2014, putting a spotlight on the issue of H-1B visas. Some of the Americans were rehired for other jobs within the company, while others became unemployed or decided to retire.
Blackwell filed four unsuccessful lawsuits at the state and federal level and after the most recent was dismissed by the state, she said she will not plan to refile again. In one of the cases, a federal judge said Disney was following existing immigration laws.
“As we have said all along, these lawsuits were completely baseless,” a Disney spokeswoman said in a statement Wednesday.
Blackwell vowed to keep fighting for the issue by advocating and creating public awareness, she told reporters at the news conference.
Under President Donald Trump — whom Blackwell accused of not doing enough to help the Disney workers — immigration and the H-1B visa has generated a hot-button political debate.
A primary avenue for skilled immigrants to enter the United States, the H-1B visa is for specialty workers and is heavily used by the high-tech industry. About 85,000 visas are issued annually in a lottery system. Some critics argue they are a way for companies to avoid hiring U.S. citizens. Trump has said H-1B recipients should not even be considered skilled.
An Associated Press investigation in 2017 found that some H-1B workers — particularly in jobs such as computer science — are often paid less than their American counterparts.
Blackwell also voiced frustration about politicians, including Trump, not doing more to create change.
“We truly believed in him,” said Blackwell, a Republican Sarasota attorney who, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, was considering running for a state House seat in 2016 and spoke about the Disney fight at Trump rallies during his campaign. “What has Trump done? Nothing.”