Should Foreign workers take American jobs?
Last year the U.S. Department of Forestry received $13 million in federal stimulus money to pay for some pre-commercial timber harvesting and thinning in Deschutes and Crook County in Central Oregon. With unemployment close to 20% in those counties one would think that it would be good news for out of work Americans - jobs paying $12 to $22 per hour. Unfortunately the jobs did not go to citizens; they went to foreign workers from Mexico.
Using the H-2B visa program, employment contractors brought in foreign workers. The H-2B visa program is theoretically in place to provide non-agricultural, unskilled labors to be used if American workers are unavailable. H-2B visas can be used for hotel maids, fry cooks, landscapers, loggers and other so-called unskilled labor. The U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, after studying the operation of temporary worker provisions recommended the elimination entirely of the H-2B visa program.
“The Commission recommends the elimination of the admission of unskilled workers. Unless there is another compelling interest, such as in the entry of nuclear families and refugees, it is not in the national interest to admit unskilled workers. This is especially true when the U.S. economy is showing difficulty in absorbing disadvantaged workers and when efforts towards welfare reform indicate that many unskilled Americans will be entering the labor force.”
While nibbling at the edge of the cookie is a move in the right direction, instead of ending the idiocy of the H-2B visa program, Senator Jeff Merkley and Congressman Peter DeFazio want it refined. Do we really need to import fry cooks, hotel maids, loggers and people to cut our lawns?
Please consider calling these legislators and asking them to end the scam of the H-2B visa program:
Senator Jeff Merkley (202) 224-3753; Portland office: 503-326-3386
webform for email: http://www.merkley.senate.gov/contact/
Congressman Peter DeFazio (202) 225-6416; Toll Free in Oregon: 800-944-9603
webform for email: https://forms.house.gov/defazio/IMA/contact.html
