Tales of the Red Tape #18: Americans Take a Regulatory Bleating

Some 14 million Americans are jobless, but there just aren’t enough qualified sheepherders or goatherders to meet demand. The federal government, therefore, is allowing ranchers to “import” foreign shepherds to temporarily tend their flocks, but only if they comply with the full range of regulations specified by the official Labor Certification Process for Employers Engaged in Sheepherding and Goatherding Occupations. For 60 years, in fact, the federal government has actually regulated sheep and goat shepherds to ensure that nonimmigrant foreign workers don’t dare deprive Americans of the job. The U.S. Department of Labor issued a revised set of rules on August 4 (Training and Employment Guidance Letter No. 32-10). Any rancher hoping to hire a non-American sheepherder or goatherder must submit an application to federal and state officials no more than 75 calendar days and no less than 60 calendar days before the “date of need.” For each application, a prospective employer must attest...more

Diane Katz goes on to show the absurdity of this reg and concludes with:

For Washington, D.C., in this day and age, to be micromanaging sheepherding and goatherding—as with the unchecked regulatory impositions on most every aspect of daily life—brings to mind an exhortation of Norman Vincent Peale: “Once we roared like lions for liberty; now we bleat like sheep for security!”