Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

DeFede: Giving Away American Jobs, Pt. 2 (2/18/2009)

U.S. Judiciary Committee Hearings On H2B Visa Program
Last year, Congress held hearings on the H2B visa program and what they heard surprised even the most jaded among them.

"What we found is that there is a need for some very serious reform of this program," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat who chairs the subcommittee that oversees the H2B visa program. "Everything from abuses in recruitment to abuses in what people are paid, in some cases even close to slavery situations."

Since first reporting on the St. Regis construction site where foreign workers were being brought in to replace American sheet metal workers, the one question viewers ask: Is anyone in power listening?

"There is no way that we should be undercutting the American workforce by importing foreign workers who are being paid less than Americans," said Lofgren. "That's just ridiculous and we need to put a stop to that. If there is an American available to do a job then you shouldn't be giving a visa to a foreign worker."

"This is not the model for comprehensive immigration reform," she said. "We heard that a lot during the Bush Administration, `O well, the current immigration system is broken we need a large scale guest worker program.' And what we have said is that that is not the answer. Look at the guest worker programs we already have in existence and what we see should give us pause."

Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, whose district includes the St. Regis project, however, believes the visa program is necessary; it just needs to be reigned in.

In the meantime, the Southern Poverty Law Center is headed to court. It seems that on January 18, in one of his last acts in office, President Bush instituted new rules for the H2B visa program which actually make it easier for employers to bring in foreign workers.

And in that same order, the Bush Administration also redefined what a "temporary" worker means under the H2B program. Temporary used to be defined as any job that lasts ten months or less. The Bush Administration changed it to any job lasting three years or less.