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  1. #1
    Senior Member Scott-in-FL's Avatar
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    Business Demands More Foreign Workers as 33M Americans Go Jobless

    Business Demands More Foreign Workers as 33M Americans Go Jobless



    by John Binder 8 May 2020

    Despite more than 33 million Americans filing for unemployment in recent weeks due to the Chinese coronavirus crisis, business is continuing to demand more foreign workers to take jobs in the United States.

    On Thursday, a coalition of Republican House and Senate lawmakers sent letters to President Trump asking that he expand his immigration executive order to suspend foreign visa worker programs like the H-1B visa, the H-2B visa, the H-2A visa, and the OPT program while millions of Americans remain jobless.

    Even with unemployment reaching record levels, businesses relying on foreign visa workers continue to claim there is a labor shortage.
    Proponents of the various foreign visa worker programs told Newsweek that businesses need imported foreign labor even during times of mass unemployment:

    Advocates who spoke with Newsweek said that the problem with carving out an exception for agricultural workers but targeting the rest of guest workers, is that those with H-2B nonagricultural visas for example, include seafood processors in Louisiana, and meatpackers in places like Iowa. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) estimates that 80 percent of meatpacking plant workers are undocumented workers or refugees, many of whom would be directly impacted by the Republican plan. [Emphasis added]

    Saket Soni, the executive director of the National Guestworker Alliance, said that for an employer to bring in a guest-worker they must attest to a labor shortage
    , calling into question whether the lawmaker’s goals are simply to go after guest workers indefinitely, even after the crisis has passed. [Emphasis added]

    Seafood processing companies in Maryland and Virginia told local media that they need foreign visa workers because there are no Americans to fill the jobs. The seafood processing industry has repeatedly been accused of abusing foreign visa workers.

    Maryland Matters reported:

    “What college graduate can you train to pick a can of crab meat in six minutes?”
    said Dayme Hahn, the manager of Faidley Seafood, a famous crab cake purveyor in Baltimore. “If you sit there and watch these people, you would say, ‘I could never do that.’” [Emphasis added]

    And few workers want a seasonal job. Crabbing is a heavily regulated industry, with the Department of Natural Resources deciding when the harvest starts and ends each year ― usually sometime between April and November. [Emphasis added]

    In Chesapeake Bay Magazine, seafood processing companies complained that they are running at lower capacity because they have not been able to import as many foreign visa workers:

    Many of the crabmeat processing businesses around the Bay are short-handed
    because they failed to get federal approval to bring in as many foreign workers as they have in previous years. [Emphasis added]

    As a result, only three of Maryland’s nine “picking houses,” as the crab processors are known, received any visas in the initial drawing. After missing out on the lottery, Lindy’s Seafood on Hoopers Island was looking at limping along with a half-dozen local workers. [Emphasis added]

    “We could sell more product, we just can’t produce it,”
    said sales manager Aubrey Vincent. [Emphasis added]

    Specifically, the employers want more H-2B foreign visa workers — those who mostly arrive from Mexico and Central America to take nonagricultural jobs that could otherwise go to working class Americans.

    Already, more than 66,000 H-2B foreign visa workers are admitted every year. The State Department, in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, is allowing employers to fast-track these foreign workers by waiving certain visa requirements with no additional medical screenings.

    Officials have suggested that Trump is considering expanding his immigration executive order to protect unemployed Americans from being forced to compete against foreign workers in the labor market.

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2...ns-go-jobless/
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  2. #2
    Moderator Beezer's Avatar
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    Plenty of people on welfare and food stamps and living in HUD housing in Baltimore for DECADES!

    Go through the database of these welfare leeches and put them to work, they work and cut off the benefits! Generations of them live in our inner-cities all over this country.
    ILLEGAL ALIENS HAVE "BROKEN" OUR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM

    DO NOT REWARD THEM - DEPORT THEM ALL

  3. #3
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    Trump Admin Continues Foreign Worker Importation During Pandemic

    Please review and respond at...



    https://www.alipac.us/f8/trump-admin...ndemic-378190/
    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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    Sens. Cruz, Cotton, Colleagues Urge President Trump to Pause Immigration, Protect American Jobs

    May 7, 2020

    |

    202-228-7561




    WASHINGTON, D.C - U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) today sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to extend and expand his April 22, 2020 Proclamation on immigration. In the letter, they ask President Trump to suspend all new guest worker visas for sixty days, and to suspend certain categories of new guest worker visas for at least the next year, or until unemployment has returned to normal levels.
    In the letter, they wrote:


    "While economic shutdowns in states and localities across the country have been necessary to reduce the spread of this pandemic, the results have been devastating for businesses and workers alike.


    As you know, more than 33 million Americans have filed for unemployment coverage just since mid-March, and approximately one-fifth of the American workforce is currently out of work.



    This is a stunning difference compared with the historically-low nationwide unemployment rate of just 3.5 percent in February this year.


    The United States admits more than one million nonimmigrant guest workers every year, and there is no reason to admit most such workers when our unemployment is so high."


    Specifically, the letter calls for:


    • Suspension of all nonimmigrant guest worker visas for the next sixty days, followed by a continued suspension of certain categories of new nonimmigrant guest worker visas for one year, or until national unemployment figures return to normal levels.
    • Suspension of the EB-5 immigrant visa program, at least until real reforms to that program are adopted.



    The letter can be read here and below.




    May 7, 2020
    The Honorable Donald J. Trump
    President of the United States
    The White House
    1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
    Washington, DC 20500

    Dear President Trump:

    We write today regarding employment-based immigration into the United States during our country's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, we write to urge you to suspend all new guest worker visas for sixty days, and to suspend certain categories of new guest worker visas for at least the next year, or until unemployment has returned to normal levels. These suspensions are critical to protecting American workers as our economy gets back on its feet.

    While economic shutdowns in states and localities across the country have been necessary to reduce the spread of this pandemic, the results have been devastating for businesses and workers alike. As you know, more than 33 million Americans have filed for unemployment coverage just since mid-March, and approximately one-fifth of the American workforce is currently out of work. This is a stunning difference compared with the historically-low nationwide unemployment rate of just 3.5 percent in February this year. The United States admits more than one million nonimmigrant guest workers every year, and there is no reason to admit most such workers when our unemployment is so high.

    Many businesses have had no choice but to lay off their employees or shutter altogether, and it is unclear when those businesses that survived will be able to rehire their lost employees. Given the extreme lack of available jobs for American job-seekers as portions of our economy begin to reopen, it defies common sense to admit additional foreign guest workers to compete for such limited employment. Your Presidential Proclamation on April 22, 2020, suspending most immigrant visas for sixty days, is a good step in the right direction. However, our guest worker programs-which were outside the scope of that order-remain a serious threat to the U.S. labor market's recovery.

    Of course, we think all Americans share the hope that our economic recovery will be swift, with Americans returning to work in massive numbers as soon as it is safe to do so. Unfortunately, it will likely take some time for most businesses to begin generating enough revenue to return to pre-pandemic levels. That is why, to protect unemployed Americans in the early stages of economic recovery, we urge you to suspend all nonimmigrant guest worker visas for the next sixty days. Exceptions to this suspension should be rare, limited to time-sensitive industries such as agriculture, and issued only on a case-by-case basis when the employer can demonstrate that they have been unable to find Americans to take the jobs.

    After sixty days, we urge you to continue to suspend new nonimmigrant guest workers for one year or until our national unemployment figures return to normal levels, whichever comes first. That suspension should, at a minimum, include H-2B visas (nonagricultural seasonal workers), H-1B visas (specialty occupation workers), and the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program (extension of foreign student visas after graduation). We also urge you to suspend the EB-5 immigrant visa program, effective immediately.

    There are millions of high school and college students who, if not for the coronavirus pandemic, would be walking across a graduation stage in front of their families and friends over the next few weeks. Instead of celebrating their hard work, most will be receiving their diplomas in the mail while worrying about whether they will be able to find a job in this market. For many high school graduates and college students, they will spend the next few weeks at home making tough decisions about delaying or foregoing college this fall due to their limited family resources. There is no reason why these young people, especially, should not have access to seasonal, nonagricultural work such as summer resort employment or landscaping before those positions are given to imported foreign labor under the H-2B program.

    Likewise, there is no reason why unemployed Americans and recent college graduates should have to compete in such a limited job market against an influx of additional H-1B workers, most of whom work in business, technology, or STEM fields. Temporarily suspending the issuance of new H-1B visas would also protect the hundreds of thousands of H-1B workers and their families already working in the United States-workers who could otherwise be subject to deportation if they are laid off for more than 60 days. Of course, appropriate exceptions could also be crafted to the H-1B program suspension to allow for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who wish to come to the United States to assist in combating the coronavirus pandemic.

    Additionally, the United States ought to suspend its Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, which allows foreign students in the United States to extend their stay in the United States after graduation for 1-3 years to get "experience in the field" by taking jobs here in the United States. In 2019, more than 223,000 former foreign students had their OPT applications approved or extended. While the merits of such a program are subject to debate, there is certainly no reason to allow foreign students to stay for three additional years just to take jobs that would otherwise go to unemployed Americans as our economy recovers.

    Finally, in regards to your Presidential Proclamation issued on April 22, 2020, we write to urge you to remove the exemption for the EB-5 program, at least until real reforms are adopted. The EB-5 program has long been plagued by scandal and fraud, and has been criticized as effectively functioning as a pay-for-citizenship scheme in many cases. There is no reason that the EB-5 program should receive preferential treatment as opposed to other green card programs for employment-based immigrants.

    The coronavirus pandemic has wrought terrible damage on our country, and we will likely continue to experience the economic effects of social distancing and shutdown measures for years to come. We applaud your work to protect public health and limit the spread of the virus in the United States, and to find ways to reopen our economy safely. As we work toward recovery, we urge you to keep the American worker in mind and limit the importation of unnecessary guest workers while American families and businesses get back on their feet.

    Sincerely,



    https://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press...j4eAvymuklSHWk




    ILLEGAL ALIENS HAVE "BROKEN" OUR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM

    DO NOT REWARD THEM - DEPORT THEM ALL

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