The Grind:
A group of Senate Republicans has joined Senate Democrats to demand President Joe Biden import more H-2B foreign visa workers to take working-class, blue-collar American jobs.
The Details:
On Monday, 17 Senate Republicans signed a letter with 17 Senate Democrats that urges Biden to “release the maximum allowable number of additional” H-2B foreign visa workers to inflate the labor market despite more than 12 million Americans remaining jobless, though all want full-time employment…
The H-2B visa program has been widely used by businesses to drag down the wages of American workers in landscaping, conservation work, the meatpacking industry, the construction industry, and fishing jobs, a 2019 study by the Center for Immigration Studies finds.
When comparing the wages of H-2B foreign workers to the national wage average for each blue-collar industry, about 21 out of 25 of the industries offered lower wages to foreign workers than Americans.
Annually, the U.S. gives green cards to about 1.2 million legal immigrants, while another 1.4 million foreign workers are admitted every year to take American jobs. Read more…