DHS to Nearly Double H-2B Workers in 2023

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced an additional 64,716 nonagricultural H-2B visas in 2023. This is a drastic near-doubling of H-2B visas for temporary foreign workers for the year. It, sadly, only marks the latest blow against struggling American workers who are already battling against raging inflation and an influx of foreign competition, both legal and illegal. In January 2021, DHS expanded H-2Bs by 20,000 for FY2022. They went further in March of 2022 by adding 35,000. It is staggering how clearly big businesses have captured control of our immigration system. The supposedly pro-union and pro-labor President has dramatically expanded foreign competition in the labor market which will reduce both wages and jobs opportunities for Americans.

And it gets even worse when you consider the escalating levels of H-2B abuse. In 2019, a bipartisan Senate letter by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) sounded the alarm bells about expanding H-2B in light of escalating abuse. The Department of Labor (DOL) recovered back wages totaling $57,000 for H-2B workers who had been exploited by their greedy employers in May of this year. From October 2019 through March 2022, DOL recovered over $1 million in back wages for close to 1,000 such workers. DOL has discovered abuse rampant in the program, including employers failing to hire or rehire American workers, offering more favorable conditions for foreign workers than American workers to shut Americans out of the labor market, and failing to pay H-2B workers the advertised wage.

The H-2B visa program is statutorily capped at 66,000 annually. It is for nonagricultural workers like hotel maids, landscapers, waiters, and construction workers. In other words, many blue-collar jobs that struggling small towns and rural communities could desperately use for their native populations. When you see the amount of wage theft it is easy to see why many are suggesting increasing immigration to reduce inflation. There is a ton of cost-saving when you don’t pay your employees a livable wage.

While it is delightful that unscrupulous employers that advertised one wage and then paid a significantly lower amount were caught, keep in mind that where there is smoke there is also fire. There is likely far more abuse than the undermanned DOL can investigate. So how is this the right time to double the number of employees susceptible to abuse? The wage theft and documented discrimination against American workers within H-2B seems to suggest the opposite policy conclusion. It does not seem radical to suggest the H-2B program should at least be reduced in size and scope until we are assured the employers are complying with the law and DOL has the capacity to effectively oversee it.

You don’t have to take my word for it on this one. The DHS press release announcing the expansion lays it out clearly:

“DHS and DOL acknowledge that H-2B workers face structural disincentives to reporting or leaving abusive conditions, and often lack power to exercise their rights in the face of exploitative employment situations. The departments emphasize the importance of protecting all H-2B workers from exploitation and abuse, and of ensuring, consistent with law, that employers do not refuse to hire or appropriately recruit U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified, and available to perform the temporary work. The forthcoming temporary final rule implementing this allocation will feature several provisions to protect both U.S. and H-2B workers. For example, DHS will subject employers that have committed certain labor law violations in the H-2B program to additional scrutiny in the supplemental cap petition process. This additional scrutiny is aimed at ensuring compliance with H-2B program requirements and obligations.”

And more from DHS on how to fix the acknowledged abuse in H-2B:

“To address these issues more broadly, the departments announce the creation of the H-2B Worker Protection Taskforce (“Taskforce”). Convened by the White House, the Taskforce will focus on (1) threats to H-2B program integrity, (2) H-2B workers’ fundamental vulnerabilities, including their limited ability to leave abusive employment without jeopardizing their immigration status, and (3) the impermissible use of the program to avoid hiring U.S. workers. The departments will assess a variety of policy options to address these issues and will provide an opportunity for relevant stakeholders to offer input. The work of the Taskforce will build on ongoing efforts in both departments to reform the H-2 temporary visa programs. In the coming months, DHS also plans to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking relating to the H-2 programs, which will incorporate policies that strengthen protections for H-2 workers.”

So they have a Taskforce to consider ideas and have plans for a proposed rulemaking for known issues, but decided to address the problems after they doubled the visas?

The only explanation for choosing to expand the H-2B program right now is the forever expanding big business hunger for more cheap labor to exploit for profit. Mind you, this profit is not extended to the American people replaced by foreign workers and still plagued by high inflation. Nor is the expansion of the H-2B program helping the foreign workers being scammed by their employers. For far too long, the immigration system in this country has been by, for and of greedy employers while turning a blind eye to the concerns of both American and foreign workers. It is callous for the Biden Administration to double the H-2B cap at such a desperate economic time for millions of Americans. Doing so while also proclaiming oneself to be pro-worker is just shameless. We can only hope American workers wake up and realize the con before they are all training their foreign replacements.

JARED CULVER is a Legal Analyst for NumbersUSA