By SABRINA CANFIELD
NEW ORLEANS (CN) – Despite a nationwide shortage of 126,000 nurses that has hospitals and states recruiting nurses overseas, Louisiana has barred noncitizens from being licensed as practical nurses there – a restriction that a South African nurse, already licensed in Texas, challenges as unconstitutional.
Esthee Van Staden sued the Louisiana Board of Practical Nurse Examiners in Federal Court. She says the state law violates the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Van Staden’s license is current in Texas and she says, “She wished to work in Louisiana in the field in which she was trained and would be doing so but for the unconstitutional restrictions imposed by the statutory bar against her granting a license to any alien.”
The U.S. Bureau of Labor reported recently that the U.S. needs 126,000 more nurses, and the deficit is expected to grow annually at least until 2016.
Van Staden already has filed an I-485 “Application to Adjust to Permanent Resident Status” – a process that can take years. Read More…
