Stepped-up federal immigration enforcement efforts are causing farmers and growers to use the H-2A guestworker program more, the Seattle Times reports.
In the face of enormous opposition from both sides of the aisle, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid opted to drop the agricultural amnesty from the Iraq Supplemental Spending Bill.
With foreign workers filling jobs traditionally held by teenagers and young adults, the Washington Post reports today that the youth jobless rate for June was at its highest level in the last 60 years, according to a new study.
H-2B visas are issued to temporary, or seasonal, low-skill workers. The annual cap on H-2B visas is 66,000. This cap was hit in the first quarter of FY 2004 and 2005.
"Officials with Sun Valley Co. in central Idaho say they will hire fewer ski instructors and other workers from foreign countries this season because a nationwide visa program has reached its limit.
Matt Parke, Sun Valley Co. personnel manager, said the 66,000 national limit for H2-B visas was reached July 29, the earliest it has been met since the program started in 1990.
AP, 22 August 2008
"Officials with Sun Valley Co. in central Idaho say they will hire fewer ski instructors and other workers from foreign countries this season because a nationwide visa program has reached its limit.
Matt Parke, Sun Valley Co. personnel manager, said the 66,000 national limit for H2-B visas was reached July 29, the earliest it has been met since the program started in 1990.
"It will definitely affect us," Parke told the Idaho Mountain Express. "We sometimes hire 200-plus H2-B employees, and with extensions we'll be about half that...."
"Employers around the country who thrive on seasonal business are
preparing to lose thousands of foreign workers they've hired in past
summers to work in restaurants, hotels, landscaping and other
industries. New visa controls are cutting the number of temporary
foreign workers eligible to return to the country, so employers are
scouring job fairs for replacements, lobbying Congress for help and
bracing for staff shortages they say will make business tough...."
Eric Tucker, Associated Press, May 5, 2008
"Employers around the country who thrive on seasonal business are
preparing to lose thousands of foreign workers they've hired in past
summers to work in restaurants, hotels, landscaping and other
industries. New visa controls are cutting the number of temporary
foreign workers eligible to return to the country, so employers are
scouring job fairs for replacements, lobbying Congress for help and
bracing for staff shortages they say will make business tough...."
