by John Binder
6 May 2017
Washington, DC
A trades union representing American blue-collar construction workers says a plan to expand the H-2B low-skilled foreign guest worker visa is
“directly counter” to President Donald Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” agenda.
The budget,
promoted by House Speaker Paul Ryan, will allow Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly
to expand the number of foreign workers who come to the U.S. for blue-collar jobs by at least 20,000.
The H-2B visa
brings foreign nationals to the U.S. for low-skilled nonagricultural jobs. The visa impacts working-class and poor Americans most, as jobs in the hotel industry, theme parks, retail, and restaurants can insource jobs to foreign workers under the program.
H-2B visa workers filled more than half a million jobs in the U.S. in the past five years.
The North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) is denouncing the plan, saying it will further undercut blue-collar American workers and the security of their jobs.
“This maneuver runs directly counter to President’s Trump’s recent executive actions to ‘buy American and hire American,’ and which were specifically crafted to instruct the Departments of Labor, Justice, Homeland Security, and State to take prompt action to crack down on fraud and abuse in our immigration system in order to protect workers in the United States and their economic conditions,” NABTU officials said in a statement.
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/05/06/h-2b-expansion-directly-counter-buy-american-hire-american-says-workers-union/
