Former Democratic presidential aspirant and U.S.\nRepresentative Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) introduced a new bill that would\ntransform the flawed H-2B nonimmigrant guestworker program into a permanent\npipeline for low-skilled permanent immigration. This proposal mirrors many of\nthe guestworker proposals that President-elect Joe Biden championed on the\ncampaign trail, and gives a glimpse into his administration\u2019s priorities in\n2021. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, there are actually some good proposals in this bill. The Seasonal Work Solidarity Act<\/a> (SWSA) calls for improving working standards for H-2B guestworkers, who are unskilled, low-educated workers brought into the United States to perform non-agricultural work. They mostly work in landscaping, forestry, and the entertainment sector. Improving workplace standards is an idea that FAIR agrees with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It also calls for raising the cost of hiring H-2B workers,\nanother policy prescription that FAIR supports as a way to prevent employers\nfrom using the program as a way to hire cheaper foreign workers at the expense\nof Americans. It also contains other\nmeasures that FAIR supports, including the creation of a national job posting\nwebsite that would attract American workers to available jobs, bans third-party\nemployers, restricts the number of H-2B workers that any employer can have, and\ncreates mechanisms to ban employers from using the program if they commit fraud\nor abuse their workers in any way. In a standalone bill, these proposals would\nlikely have broad support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, as with many immigration proposals, the bad far\noutweighs the good in the SWSA. Rep. Castro\u2019s bill is essentially a citizenship\ngiveaway to nonskilled H-2B workers in the midst of an ongoing pandemic and\neconomic crisis that continues to harm American workers, and particularly those\nwho compete with H-2B aliens for jobs. This visa giveaway occurs in two main\nways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n First, it gives spouses of H-2B workers the ability to live and work in the United States under an H-4 visa and work authorization. FAIR advocates immediately terminating<\/a> the H-4 carve-out for spouses of temporary, nonimmigrant workers who have no legitimate reason to live and work in the United States. Guestworkers are just that \u2013 temporary guests \u2013 and permitting their spouses to come and work in the U.S. displaces other American workers and unfairly gives alien workers a false sense of permanent residence in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, and most importantly, the SWSA proposes giving H-2B workers and their families a pathway to citizenship after just 18 months of H-2B employment. This is an outrageous proposal. There were 129,126 H-2B admissions in fiscal year 2019<\/a>. For the sake of argument, let\u2019s assume that each of these individuals pursued the pathway to citizenship offered under SWSA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Further, let\u2019s assume that through chain migration, they then sponsor 3.45 additional family members<\/a>. That leaves us with 445,484 individuals pursuing citizenship through a brand-new avenue \u2013 or, roughly 43 percent of the total of all green cards issued in FY 2019. In plain English, Rep. Castro\u2019s proposal could increase permanent immigration to the U.S. by 43 percent and transform the H-2B program into an easy path to citizenship for low-skilled workers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As the United States continues recovering from the economic\ndevastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, this proposal is a non-starter. President\nTrump wisely suspended certain forms of legal immigration in addition to\nhalting most guestworker programs as a way to protect the American economy from\nthe negative economic impacts of immigration during a period of soaring\nunemployment. Many of the Americans struggling to find jobs were previously\nemployed in the very fields that hire the most H-2B workers: landscaping,\nrestaurants, and other entertainment. As the economy continues recovering, why\nwould we suddenly offer a pathway to citizenship for nearly half a million\npeople who compete directly with out-of-work Americans for jobs? <\/p>\n\n\n\n On January 20, 2021 Joe Biden will become the 46th<\/sup> President of the United States. During his campaign, he promised to amnesty nearly every illegal alien in the country. He also promised to strengthen worker protections, and garnered endorsements from major labor unions such as AFL-CIO<\/a> and UFCW<\/a> \u2013 both of whom support<\/a> Rep. Castro\u2019s SWSA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Their support \u2013 and Castro\u2019s \u2013 indicate that measures like these could find a sympathetic ear in the White House as Biden tries to unite his support before pursuing a major immigration proposal. Look to this as something that may appear in Biden\u2019s immigration overhaul amnesty bill \u2013 something he promised in the first 100 days of his presidency. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former Democratic presidential aspirant and U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) introduced a new bill that would transform the flawed H-2B nonimmigrant guestworker program into a permanent pipeline for low-skilled permanent immigration. This proposal mirrors many of the guestworker proposals that President-elect Joe Biden championed on the campaign trail, and gives a glimpse into his administration\u2019s<\/p>\n