DHS is Not Doing Its Job to Stop Mass Migration

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Mar 31, 2020

Acting chief of the Department of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf gave feelgood messaging on Twitter about the DHS’s duty during the current Wuhan virus pandemic.

He tweeted on January 27, 2020, “To the brave men and women of  @dhsgov: Our country is now at an inflection point in history and our actions today will determine what’s remembered for generations. As we face the challenges of the #coronavirus pandemic, know that you have my complete support and that of the Dept.”

However, immigration restriction group, NumbersUSA, had to be the bearer of bad news (and rightfully so) on this occasion.

It tweeted, “@DHS_Wolf is going to admit tens of thousands of foreign guest workers in the coming month to satisfy the corporate lobby. These guest workers will be dispersed across the entire U.S.. putting Americans out of work and hampering efforts to control the coronavirus.”

BLP has previously reported on the federal government’s move to import H-1B visas during a time of pandemic and government-induced shutdowns.  The government recently announced that approximately 3.3 million Americans have filed for unemployment as businesses shut down due to government shelter in orders.

However, as John Binder reports, “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf will fast-track foreign workers on H-2A and H-2B visas into the U.S. to take blue-collar agricultural and nonagricultural jobs.”

A memo Pompeo released reads:

The H-2 program is essential to the economy and food security of the United States and is a national security priority. Therefore, we intend to continue processing H-2 cases as much as possible, as permitted by post resources and local government restrictions. Secretary Pompeo, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, has authorized consular officers to expand the categories of H-2 visa applicants whose applications can be adjudicated without an in-person interview.  Consular officers can, if they so choose, now waive the visa interview requirement for first-time and returning H-2 applicants who have no apparent ineligibility or potential ineligibility. [Emphasis added]

This expansion also increases the period in which returning workers may qualify for an interview waiver. Applicants whose previous visas expired in the last 48 months, and who did not require a waiver of ineligibility the last time they applied, do not need to be interviewed in-person if they are applying for the same visa classification as their previous visa.  We anticipate the vast majority of otherwise qualified H-2 applicants will now be adjudicated without an interview. [Emphasis added]

This order allows agricultural and nonagricultural businesses to fast track the importation of foreign workers on H-2A and H-2B visas without having to conduct the standard interview and application procedures. This move is a parallel to President George W. Bush’s decision to lift visa requirements in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“The agriculture industry’s dependence on poorly screened, cheap foreign labor to produce our food is indefensible,” Federation for American Immigration Reform’s (FAIR) RJ Hauman informed Breitbart News. “Validating it through a guest worker policy change at a time of mass unemployment and a public health crisis is an enormous mistake.”

NumbersUSA officials criticized the decision Pompeo and Wolf made.

“Low-wage foreign guest workers can also come in by the tens of thousands thanks to [Chad Wolf],” NumbersUSA officials tweeted. “Will every individual be tested for coronavirus or does corporate greed trump public health?”

In 2019, farm companies imported 250,000 H-2A foreign workers as there is no cap on the number of H-2A workers who can be imported into the U.S. This month, Wolf allowed 35,000 extra H-2B foreign workers to take nonagricultural jobs in the American economy and has refused to stop the program during the Wuhan virus crisis.

Annually, U.S. companies are allowed to import 66,000 low-skilled H-2B foreign workers. For a while, the H-2B visa program has been used by businesses to import cheaper, foreign workers and has played a major role in suppressing blue-collar Americans’ wages.

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