In a divided ruling that creates a circuit split, a federal appeals court on Thursday said federal law prohibits discrimination in hiring against U.S. citizens on the basis of their citizenship.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit revived a naturalized U.S. citizen’s lawsuit against Meta Platforms that accuses the company of violating civil rights law by refusing to hire him because it prefers noncitizens holding H1B visas to whom it can pay lower wages.