Stops mandatory interviews in violation of law
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Trump Waves in Seasonal Foreign Workers as Pandemic Peaks Stops mandatory interviews in violation of law ([link removed])
Washington, D.C. (April 7, 2020) – A recent Center for Immigration Studies analysis highlights the State Department’s new policy ([link removed]) , announced in late March, to not interview most applicants for seasonal guestworker visas. Aside from the absurdity of bringing in any foreign guestworkers at all at the height of a global pandemic that just threw millions of Americans out of work, this move has re-opened a security and fraud vulnerability in the temporary worker visa program that career homeland security officials have fought for years to close.
The number of visa issuances to H-2 guestworkers has more than doubled in the last decade, from 103,324 in 2010 to 280,183 in 2018. Along with the growth in numbers has been growth in fraud and abuse in both the agricultural and non-agricultural H-2 guestworker programs – as the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has pointed out in numerous (see here ([link removed]) and here ([link removed]) ).
Jessica Vaughan, the Center’s director of policy studies, writes, “Clearly the Department of Agriculture is pleased to deliver the cheap labor that U.S. growers have become accustomed to – rather than adopting farm modernization trends used successfully in the rest of the developed world.”
Read the full analysis here: [link removed]
The State Department says it considers the seasonal guestworker program to be a “national security priority." However, this position is in direct conflict with Trump's own policy moves and congressional intent. The law 8 USC 1202(h) ([link removed]) stipulates that, with just a few exceptions, every temporary visa applicant aged 14 to 79 must be interviewed.
Vaughan writes, “Interviews are critical to preserving the integrity of our temporary visa programs – especially the guestworker programs.” She adds, “Officers are trained to question applicants, screen for fraud, and educate the applicants on their rights and responsibilities as a temporary worker. Interviews are especially important given the chronic problems with fraud and abuse in these seasonal worker programs.”
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