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Thread: Speaker Ryan Squeezes 15,000 Extra H-2B Workers From DHS Chief John Kelly

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    Super Moderator GeorgiaPeach's Avatar
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    Speaker Ryan Squeezes 15,000 Extra H-2B Workers From DHS Chief John Kelly

    Speaker Ryan Squeezes 15,000 Extra H-2B Workers From DHS Chief John Kelly
    (Video at Link - Kelly fidgets when talking to Senator Murkowski)


    Neil Munro


    July 17, 2017

    Homeland defense secretary John Kelly will print 15,000 additional H-2B visas for foreign blue-collar workers in 2017, according to a statement from the agency.


    The 11.00 a.m. announcement said:
    U.S. businesses in danger of suffering irreparable harm due to a lack of available temporary nonagricultural workers will be able to hire up to 15,000 additional temporary nonagricultural workers under the H-2B program …

    “Congress gave me the opportunity to provide temporary relief to American businesses in danger of suffering irreparable harm due to a lack of available temporary workers,” said DHS Secretary John Kelly. “As a demonstration of the Administration’s commitment to supporting American businesses, DHS is providing this one-time increase to the congressionally set annual cap.”

    The decision is “a betrayal of [President Donald] Trump’s campaign promise to deliver blue-collar jobs to Americans,” said one opponent of the wage-cutting H-2B visa program.

    “Kelly’s decision to increase H-2B foreign workers threatens to reverse the trend of reports emerging around the country of employers working harder and raising pay to successfully recruit more unemployed Americans for lower-skilled jobs,” said Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, which favors pro-American immigration reforms. He added:
    Congress gave Kelly the authority to put around 70,000 more of those jobs out of the reach of Americans; at least Kelly limited the damage to keeping just 15,000 more Americans out of the labor market. Nonetheless, this is yet another example of the Administration and Congress failing to keep the Trump campaign promise of putting American workers first.”

    The turnabout by Kelly marks a win for the GOP legislators and allied business groups who oppose President Donald Trump’s popular “Buy American, Hire American” policy.


    The additional inflow of foreign workers will reduce marketplace pressure on employers to develop labor-saving technology and to streamline their business practices. The extra outsourcing visas will also reduce the pressure on companies to offer marketplace wages to recruit new employees, will reduce their incentive to train unemployed Americans from rural and urban areas, and reduce their incentive to lobby state legislators for more vocational training programs.




    Nationwide, companies already employ at least 1.5 million wage-cutting foreign outsourcing workers, most of whom work in white-collar jobs sought by American graduates.


    Kelly’s closed-door decision does not allow for a full regulatory process, which would normally allow the public to provide comments against an expansion of the cheap-labor program.


    The “lack of comment period is due to lateness of the legislation (May), [the] requirement to consult with [the Department of] Labor and [the] requirement to follow the law on federal rule making in order to provide additional seasonal worker visas before we get deeper into the summer season,” spokesman David Lapan told Breitbart News on Friday.

    The agency statement insisted the extra foreign workers were only for threatened businesses which are “in danger of suffering irreparable harm due to a lack of available temporary nonagricultural workers.” But DHS will only require a statement — not evidence — of “irreperable harm” from executives, saying “to qualify for the additional visas, petitioners must attest, under penalty of perjury, that their business is likely to suffer irreparable harm if it cannot employ H-2B nonimmigrant workers during fiscal year (FY) 2017.”
    The statement does not define what level of “irreparable harm” qualifies a company to hire lower-wage foreign employees.
    The lower wages paid to the seasonal workers also allows employers to reduce wages for year-round American workers, according to several H-2B employers. If wages for summer workers are forced up by market conditions, “this causes a ripple effect in all wages across the board,” said Josh Denison, the hiring chief at Denison Landscaping in Oxon Hill, Md., told a reporter in the October 2015 issue of the industry magazine, Lawn & Landscaping. He continued:



    If your $10.30 [an hour] basic domestic or H-2B laborer has an arbitrary wage increase, then you have to adjust wages across the board in a sliding scale to keep it fair and balanced. What happens to the $12 guy if the new guy is making more? And what happens to the $15 guy?


    The program already delivers roughly 115,000 as foreign seasonal workers to Americans companies each year, mostly in the South and East. Many H-2B workers also work at winter resorts in Colorado.



    The program allows companies to bring in 66,000 new workers each year — and also to keep workers who got visas in the prior two years. The rules allow companies to maintain a workforce of roughly 115,000 H-2B workers in the United States, according to an estimate by the Economic Policy Institute.Equivalent U.S. workers have received few or no pay raises since 2007, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

    Just like the white-collar H-1B visa program, the H-2B program is unpopular with the public, but lobbyists constantly pressure legislators to increase the annual inflow of foreign workers.Politicians know the program is very unpopular. In December 2015, House Speaker Paul Ryan inserted a difficult-to-read passage into the annual spending bill that greatly expanded the program. After the November 2016 election, however, House Speaker Paul Ryan reversed the expansion.In May, however, Ryan and other legislators again expanded the H-2B program while hiding their plan from voters. They passed the buck to Kelly by adding language in the May budget supplemental which allows the DHS secretary to expand the H-2B program by up to 70,000 new workers each year. Lobbyists then pressured Kelly — and the legislators who control the DHS budget — to quickly expand the program via low-profile regulatory changes so that foreign workers can be hired and rushed into jobs later this summer, fall and winter.


    The wage-cutting plan was covered by Breitbart but was largely ignored by the establishment media.In May, Kelly initially said he would reluctantly approve some extra workers, but then quickly backtracked. “I know we already have large numbers [of contract workers] that come in and have been coming in over the years, but … in the current administration, this is all about American jobs versus people that come in and do the work,” Kelly told Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp in early June.

    Then Kelly agreed to increase the visa numbers as he came under increased pressure from lobbyists and GOP and Democratic legislators, led by GOP Sen. Thom Tillis.Spokesman Lapan complained about the pressure, saying Kelly “is concerned that Congress is passing the buck by not clearly legislating the H2B visa numbers, and expects that this one-time occurrence is an anomaly.”Kellly’s approval of the extra H-2B visas will likely encourage the GOP legislators and companies to seek even more H-2B in future years.Here is Kelly’s May statement to the appropriations committee:

    This is one of things I really wish I did not have any discretion, and for every Senator or Congressman that has your view, I have another one that says ‘Don’t you dare, this is about American jobs.’ You know the argument, both sides. My staff, members of my staff, are coordinating with the Department of Labor on this. One of the things, and I have my working class root background that keeps reminding me that some of these individuals —not necessarily in Alaska — but many, many of these individuals are victimized when they come up here, in terms of what they’re paid and all the rest of it, so we’re working with Labor, Department of Labor, to come up with an answer to this, but we really do need a long-term solution, so we’ll work with the Senate and with Congress, within the industry, this year, and again, I’ll have my staff when they return from Labor and we get some protocols in place, we’ll likely increase the numbers for this year, perhaps not by the entire number that I’m authorized, but we really do need, I’m really looking forward to working with you Senator, and the whole Congress, to get a longer-term solution to this.


    http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...ef-john-kelly/





    Last edited by GeorgiaPeach; 07-17-2017 at 03:55 PM.
    Matthew 19:26
    But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
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  2. #2
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    This is so disgusting, it makes me want to puke. While better than 70,000 more workers that Ryan wanted, it still sucks.
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    Super Moderator GeorgiaPeach's Avatar
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    In my opinion, Secretary John Kelly is lacking when it comes to immigration, illegal immigration and border security in areas. According to words and actions, He and Paul Ryan are for DACA, for more foreign citizens to replace Americans and an "American First" plan is not their first priority.

    Thom Tillis is holding his healthcare vote hostage to more H2b visas being allowed per reports. Maybe others are as well. Senator Lisa Murkowski wants more foreign workers.

    So many disappointments in government and our so called representatives. Many should really be representing foreign governments and citizens.
    Last edited by GeorgiaPeach; 07-17-2017 at 10:41 PM.
    Matthew 19:26
    But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
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    Super Moderator GeorgiaPeach's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Judy View Post
    This is so disgusting, it makes me want to puke. While better than 70,000 more workers that Ryan wanted, it still sucks.
    Yes Judy, it is not good for America, nor for jobs for Americans.
    Matthew 19:26
    But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
    ____________________

    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)


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    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GeorgiaPeach View Post
    In my opinion, Secretary John Kelly is lacking when it comes to immigration, illegal immigration and border security in areas. According to words and actions, He and Paul Ryan are for DACA, for more foreign citizens to replace Americans and an "American First" plan is not their first priority.

    Thom Tillis is holding his healthcare vote hostage to more H2b visas being allowed per reports. Maybe others are as well. Senator Lisa Murkpwski wants more foreign workers.

    So many disappoints in government.
    It's a great tragedy. Always some spoilers in the bunch. Alaska better wake up about Murkowski.
    A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation - Ronald Reagan
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    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GeorgiaPeach View Post
    Yes Judy, it is not good for America, nor for jobs for Americans.
    Exactly!!
    A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation - Ronald Reagan
    Save America, Deport Congress! - Judy

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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

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    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    This better be the last year of this crap. NO MORE .... NO MORE!!! REDUCE, REDUCE, REDUCE!!
    A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation - Ronald Reagan
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    MW
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    The decision is “a betrayal of [President Donald] Trump’s campaign promise to deliver blue-collar jobs to Americans,” said one opponent of the wage-cutting H-2B visa program.
    This wouldn't be happening if President Trump didn't want it to. Secretary Kelly was appointed by, and works for, President Donald Trump. Yep, the buck stops with Trump.

    "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" ** Edmund Burke**

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    Senior Member Scott-in-FL's Avatar
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    Shortage Of Foreign Labor Forces Maine Businesses To Hire Local Workers


    Will Racke 12:56 PM 07/13/2017

    Businesses in Bar Harbor, Maine are turning to locals to make up for a shortage of foreign guest workers that normally fill summer jobs in the bustling seaside resort town.

    Because the H-2B visa program has already reached its annual quota, Bar Harbor’s hotels, restaurants and shops can’t bring in any more foreign workers for the rest of the busy summer tourist season. Like hundreds of similar coastal resort towns, Bar Harbor has for many years depended on the H-2B visas for temporary workers. The program allows non-agricultural companies to bring in foreign labor if they are unable to find suitable employees domestically.

    Now they are coming up with creative ways to attract local labor, reports the Bangor Daily News.

    The Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce will hold a job fair Saturday in an effort to recruit significant numbers of workers from the region. Just about every kind of business in the town is looking for help, says chamber executive director Martha Searchfield.

    “All types of businesses — retail, restaurants, the tour boats, all the trips, everything. All types of workers are needed,” she told the Daily News.
    The shortage is so acute that companies are sweetening incentives for local workers. Searchfield says some businesses are offering flexible schedules that might appeal to older workers who might be interested in working only a day or two each week. And other companies have gone so far as to offer higher wages to entice locals.

    The annual limit for H-2B visas is set at 66,000, half for the winter season and half for the summer. In the past, workers who had previously come to the U.S. on H-2B visas were given a “returning worker” exemption and not counted against the cap. Congress did not include the returning worker provision in this year’s authorization, but instead gave Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly the power to raise the limit by as many as 70,000 extra visas for the summer.

    Several lawmakers are pressuring the Trump administration to authorize more H-2B visas, and DHS is expected to announce a higher cap this month. Independent Maine Sen. Angus King has introduced legislation that would restore the returning worker rule.

    In the meantime, Bar Harbor’s businesses are scrambling to find locals to pick up the slack.
    “Because of the new situation that’s going on with these visaed workers, I think it’s going to create some holes for us,” said Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop owner Joe Minutolo.

    http://dailycaller.com/2017/07/13/sh...local-workers/
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