Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Urges President to immediately deliver on his campaign promise to reform guest worker visa program exploited by outsourcing companies
WASHINGTON –(ENEWSPF)–March 3, 2017. U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee, is calling out President Donald Trump for failing to deliver on his campaign promise to put American workers first by cracking down on H-1B visa abuse. In a letter to President Trump, Senator Durbin slammed the Administration’s decision to pursue “cruel and un-American policies that harm our economy, do not make us safer, and are inconsistent with our heritage as a nation of immigrants” instead of holding unscrupulous outsourcing companies accountable for displacing American workers.
“The American people deserve an explanation for your decision not to pursue H-1B reforms on your first day in office. Commentators have pointed out that companies you own have sought to import at least 1,000 foreign guest workers while turning away hundreds of qualified American workers. I note with concern that in recent weeks one of your largest campaign donors has promised that you will not crack down on H-1B abuses and instead will seek to increase the number of H-1B visas granted each year. Just last week, your spokesman Sean Spicer suggested H-1B visa reform is not a top priority for your Administration,” wrote Senator Durbin. “On Tuesday night, I listened in vain to your address to a Joint Session of Congress for any mention of H-1B visa reform to protect American workers. Instead, I heard more scaremongering about immigrants and immigration.”
Senator Durbin’s letter outlined actions the Trump Administration can take now to end H-1B visa abuse, including supporting Durbin’s bipartisan legislation that is cosponsored by the new Attorney General, investigating the use of H-1B as an outsourcing tool, and moving H-1B visa allocation from a lottery system to a merit-based model. Durbin notes that if the President does not take action in the next few weeks, outsourcers will secure the right to import tens of thousands of low-wage foreign guest workers to replace American workers when the government conducts its annual H-1B lottery in early April.
Full text of the letter is available here
Source: http://durbin.senate.gov
