{"id":22619,"date":"2020-03-10T20:32:46","date_gmt":"2020-03-11T00:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=22619"},"modified":"2020-03-10T20:32:49","modified_gmt":"2020-03-11T00:32:49","slug":"h2b-visas-dhs-foreign-labor-i-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2020\/03\/10\/h2b-visas-dhs-foreign-labor-i-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"More H-2B Visas = Less Opportunity for U.S. Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced last week that it will allot an additional 35,000<\/a> low- and semi-skilled work visas this year. The move was authorized by Congress<\/a>, but that doesn\u2019t make it good policy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

H-2B visas<\/a> — which grant temporary legal status to non-agricultural seasonal workers in such fields as landscaping, restaurants, the hospitality industry and even carnivals<\/a> — are capped at 66,000 per year. That ceiling has been raised annually with pressure from businesses claiming they can\u2019t find enough qualified Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Congress allows issuance of an additional 64,000 H-2Bs per year, the administration approved \u201conly\u201d 30,000 in 2019. Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf pledged that this year\u2019s added complement (including 10,000 reserved for workers from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala) will come with new fraud-fighting measures<\/a>. Steps include requiring matching start dates on a petition and the employer\u2019s needed start date, and greater collaboration with the Labor Department on increased site visits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stricter enforcement strategies should have\nbeen in place long ago. Yet pledges to tighten the system sound a lot like\nthose un-kept promises, associated with prior \u201cimmigration reform\u201d programs,\nabout securing the southern border in exchange for a succession of amnesties.\nIf past is prologue, H-2B visas will keep rising, and abuses will continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, two days before Wolf announced DHS\u2019 latest H-2B cap lift, the Justice Department settled a case with a Houston bus company<\/a>. Investigators found that the company had rejected applications from qualified U.S. workers for temporary driver positions, and then petitioned for H-2B visa workers to fill them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such bad behavior is in no way unusual. A\nGoogle search on \u201cH-2B violations\u201d nets thousands of citations. Some lawmakers,\nfrom both sides of the aisle, have stepped up their criticism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe H-2B program, as it operates today, incentivizes unscrupulous employers to hire [foreign]workers instead of American workers and creates poor working conditions for immigrant workers and American workers alike,\u201d\u00a0Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; Tom Cotton. R-Ark.; Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Richard Durbin, D-Ill., stated in a letter<\/a> to Wolf in January. Grassley doubled down<\/a> on Thursday, citing \u201cabuses within the H-2B program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FAIR President Dan Stein challenged Congress to do its job. \u201cThe H-2B visa is a\nflawed program that depresses wages and eliminates job opportunities for\nAmerican workers. Congress must quit offloading this politically unpopular\ndecision to bring in more wage-impacting foreign workers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one bit of encouraging news, DHS says it is\nexploring an idea generated by FAIR to cap individual industries\u2019 use of H-2B\nvisas. Currently, 69 percent of all visas go to just\nfive occupational categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nfact, many H-2B jobs are in states that do not actually have labor shortages\nand where qualified workers are readily available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For all the indications that the US economy is robust and growing, 5.9 million Americans remain unemployed<\/a>, and looking for work. Continually importing more foreign labor doesn\u2019t help their prospects, or America\u2019s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced last week that it will allot an additional 35,000 low- and semi-skilled work visas this year. The move was authorized by Congress, but that doesn\u2019t make it good policy. H-2B visas — which grant temporary legal status to non-agricultural seasonal workers in such fields as landscaping, restaurants, the<\/p>\n

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