Martire: Time to Address the Failures of the H-2B Visa Program

Last week, the White House paused issuing additional H-2B visas for temporary foreign workers. The move has been praised as more than 40 million Americans continue to be out of work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The H-2B visa program was intended to provide employers with access to temporary non-U.S. workers only if an employer could prove they were unsuccessful at genuinely attempting to hire American workers, but that isn't how it works in the real world.

Dennis Martire, vice president and regional manager of the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Laborers International Union, wrote an op-ed "Time to eliminate or reform the H-2B visa program." He said:

"...The landscaping industry - one of the largest H-2B visa users - don't only exploit non-U.S. workers, they undercut pay and living standards for all workers. According to Department of Labor data, employers saved as much as $3.80 per hour in wages by hiring visa-holders. In fact, the pay rate for visa-holders is about the same as for undocumented workers."

Comments on the column included contributions about the negative effects on wages programs like H-2B have, such as this one:

"Work visas sponsored by employers need to be banned. Predatory companies will stop looking to import labor when workers hold their own visas any other company can hijack them for fifteen cents more an hour. System will fall apart and wages will rise. And specific companies won't be able to import massive numbers of foreigners under the false claim they can't find anybody else. There would have to be a genuine nationwide shortage of labor for the visas to be activated." - Old Poor Richard

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