DOJ: Employers Seeking H-1B Help Should Not Discriminate Against Americans

Maybe Sessions will go after Disney.....

DOJ: Employers Seeking H-1B Help Should Not Discriminate Against AmericansBy JOHN BINDER
3 Apr 2017Washington, D.C


On the day the H-1B visa program is open for applications by employers, mostly from the tech industry, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is warning companies not to replace American workers with foreign help.

In a statement, Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ DOJ laid down a more aggressive tone on the issue of the H-1B visa’s long history of being used to outsource Americans’ jobs to cheaper, foreign workers that are brought to the U.S.

“The Justice Department will not tolerate employers misusing the H-1B visa process to discriminate against U.S. workers,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler of the Civil Rights Division said in the statement. “U.S. workers should not be placed in a disfavored status, and the department is wholeheartedly committed to investigating and vigorously prosecuting these claims.”
While the Immigration and Nationality Act is meant to prohibit discrimination against American workers solely because of their citizenship, the H-1B foreign guest worker visa has defied those rules for decades.

Under the H-1B visa, 85,000 new foreign workers are brought to the U.S. every year, often taking once high-paying jobs from Americans who are fired and forced to train their replacements.
If the H-1B visa program had never been introduced and enacted, computer science job availability in the labor market would be up 11 percent and wages in the tech industry would have increased by five percent, Breitbart News reported.

The H-1B visa remains incredibly unpopular with American voters. As Breitbart Texas reported, only 30 percent of Americans say companies bringing in foreign workers to fill jobs are necessary. Some 44 percent said those foreign workers take jobs away. The vast majority of Americans also said the number of H-1B visas allotted every year to companies should either be decreased or kept at the current levels.
While President Donald Trump has signaled support for legislation that would raise the minimum salary for H-1B visa workers, the White House has not taken any steps thus far to reform the program, as Breitbart Texas reported.
Trump’s nominee to lead the Labor Department, Alexander Acosta, curiously told Congress last month that it was “not the intent” of the visa to replace Americans with foreigners, as Breitbart Texas reported.

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/04/03/doj-employers-seeking-h-1b-help-not-discriminate-americans/

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, April 3, 2017



Justice Department Cautions Employers Seeking H-1B Visas Not to Discriminate Against U.S. Workers

The Justice Department cautioned employers petitioning for H-1B visas not to discriminate against U.S. workers. The warning came as the federal government began accepting employers’ H-1B visa petitions for the next fiscal year. The H-1B visa program allows companies in the United States to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations such as science and information technology.

The anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) generally prohibits employers from discriminating against U.S. workers because of their citizenship or national origin in hiring, firing and recruiting. Employers violate the INA if they have a discriminatory hiring preference that favors H-1B visa holders over U.S. workers.

“The Justice Department will not tolerate employers misusing the H-1B visa process to discriminate against U.S. workers,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler of the Civil Rights Division. “U.S. workers should not be placed in a disfavored status, and the department is wholeheartedly committed to investigating and vigorously prosecuting these claims.”

The division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER), formerly known as the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices, is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. The statute prohibits, among other things, citizenship, immigration status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; retaliation and intimidation.

For more information about protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call IER’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call IER’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a free webinar; email IER@usdoj.gov(link sends e-mail); or visit IER’s English and Spanish websites.
Applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to discrimination based on their citizenship, immigration status, or national origin in hiring, firing or recruitment or referral, should contact IER’s worker hotline for assistance.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justi...nst-us-workers