Section 212(a)(14) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of
1952 (amended by § 212(a)(5)(A) of the Immigration Act of
1990 and recodified at 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(5)(A)) was enacted
to exclude aliens competing for jobs American workers could fill
and to "protect the American labor market from an influx of
both skilled and unskilled foreign labor." Cheung v.
District Director, INS, 641 F.2d 666, 669 (9th Cir. 1981);
Wang v. INS, 602 F.2d 211, 213 (9th Cir. 1979). To achieve
this Congressional purpose, the regulations set forth a number of
provisions designed to ensure that the statutory preference
favoring domestic workers is carried out whenever possible.
Twenty C.F.R. § 656.2(b) quotes § 291 of the
Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1361, as
follows:
Whenever any person makes application for a visa or
any other document required for entry, or makes application
for admission, or otherwise attempts to enter the United
States, the burden of proof shall be upon such person to
establish that he is eligible to receive such visa or such
document, or is not subject to exclusion under any provision
of this Act...
The legislative history of the 1965 amendments to the Act
establishes that Congress intended that the burden of proof for
obtaining labor certification be on the employer who seeks an
alien's entry for permanent employment. See S. Rep. No.
748, 89th Cong., lst Sess., reprinted in 1965 U.S. Code
Cong. & Ad. News 3333-3334.
