US govt bans American tech firm from Green Card programme for 2 yrs; fines $1.4 mn

US government bans American technology company from Green Card programme for two years; fines $1.4 million; DOJ says: Violated Immigration and Nationality Act by …

US government has banned Cloudera, a Santa Clara, California-based data management company from participating in the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) program for two years.

For those unaware, PERM is the required first step for US employers to sponsor a foreign worker for a permanent employment-based green card. In a press release, the Department of Justice said that it has imposed a fine of $1.4 million on Cloudera Cloudera for violating the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by discriminating against U.S. workers when recruiting and hiring for seven positions under the PERM process“There are no exceptions: the Justice Department will hold accountable employers who discriminate against U.S.

workers,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This substantial settlement, in partnership with DOL, sends a strong signal to employers that the federal government will work together to ensure employers treat U.S. workers fairly.

”The debarment follows DOL’s earlier suspension of Cloudera’s PERM processing and reflects DOL’s commitment to aggressively enforcing labor certification requirements when employers fail to provide US workers a fair opportunity to compete for jobs.

What the Justice department said banning Cloudera from PERM

In the official release, DOJ said:“The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division (CRT) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) today announced a coordinated enforcement resolution with Cloudera Inc., a Santa Clara, California-based data management company, following allegations that the company discriminated against qualified U.S. workers during recruitment conducted under the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) program.“There are no exceptions: the Justice Department will hold accountable employers who discriminate against U.S. workers,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This substantial settlement, in partnership with DOL, sends a strong signal to employers that the federal government will work together to ensure employers treat U.S. workers fairly.

”As part of the resolution, Cloudera will be barred from participating in the PERM program for two years, one of the most significant sanctions available for DOL to protect the integrity of the employment-based immigration system and safeguard opportunities for U.S. workers. The debarment follows DOL’s earlier suspension of Cloudera’s PERM processing and reflects DOL’s commitment to aggressively enforcing labor certification requirements when employers fail to provide U.S.

workers a fair opportunity to compete for jobs.The settlement also resolves a lawsuit DOJ filed in April of this year, alleging that Cloudera violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by discriminating against U.S. workers when recruiting and hiring for seven positions under the PERM process. Under the terms of the settlement with the Justice Department, Cloudera will establish a back-pay fund of $1.4 million to compensate qualified U.S.

workers who tried to apply for the jobs at issue but were not given fair consideration.

Cloudera also will pay $600,000 in civil penalties to the United States.In addition to the two-year debarment, Cloudera will be subject to compliance obligations designed to ensure future adherence to federal labor and anti-discrimination laws. These measures include enhanced monitoring, revised PERM compliance procedures, and reporting requirements intended to prevent future violations.This debarment and compliance framework establish an important enforcement precedent and strengthen future efforts to protect U.S. workers. The PERM program allows employers to sponsor aliens for permanent residence only after demonstrating that qualified U.S. workers were provided a genuine opportunity to apply and that no qualified, willing, and available U.S. workers could be found. Employers who evade these requirements undermine both program integrity and the interests of U.S.

workers. This resolution is one of many examples of coordinated federal enforcement designed to ensure employers comply with labor market protections established by Congress.This settlement is also the fourteenth settlement since DOJ re-launched its Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative in 2025 to enforce the INA’s prohibition on citizenship status discrimination against companies that illegally discriminate against U.S.

workers in favor of those with temporary employment visas. Under these settlements, DOJ obtains civil penalties for each violation and will continue to appropriately seek the maximum penalty permitted by law.

The settlements also involve awards of back pay, when warranted, and require employers to conduct comprehensive training for relevant staff and recruiters and cease restricting consideration for job opportunities based on workers’ citizenship status without a lawful reason."