Brunswick, Georgia - A federal court in Georgia on Monday blocked a US Labor Department (DOL) rule preventing agricultural employers from retaliating against migrant farm workers for joining or assisting unions.

US District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood determined that the DOL rule violates the National Labor Relations Act, which excludes agricultural workers and does not guarantee them collective bargaining rights.

"Administrative agencies, including the DOL, cannot create law and the DOL cannot create rights that Congress has not," Wood wrote.

The DOL rule was designed to protect vulnerable farm workers on temporary H-2A visas from exploitation and abuse.

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Wood's decision came after 17 states – Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia – filed a complaint seeking to halt enforcement of the changes, which were scheduled to take effect on Thursday.

"After filing suit in June, we've blocked the Biden-Harris administration’s pro-union rule for farm workers," Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr posted on X.

"The President & VP can't use the Labor Department to impose unreasonable & unlawful demands on America's agricultural employers. We'll always fight for GA farmers," he added.

The ruling sparked immediate backlash from labor and immigrants' rights advocates.

United Farm Workers issued a scathing response to Georgia's Republican AG, writing, "A temporary injunction halts the H2-A rules aiming to protect vulnerable guest workers from exploitation and trafficking, like that endured by Georgia farm workers who were forced to work at gunpoint."

"This is a shocking ruling. Is the GOP openly nostalgic for the plantation?"