Thursday, May 22, 2008

Department Of Labor To Revise Temporary Visas

The prospect of worker shortages this summer in restaurants, seasonal food industries and landscaping has been loudly trumpeted by the affected business interests. The Bush administration has heard the call and is responding by revising the H2B temporary worker program. It will extend its definition of "temporary" from 10 months to 3 years. Also it will speed up the visa process and cut bureaucratic red tape. This is good for the industries -- you'll get your meal in the restaurant and have your bed made up in timely fashion. But is it good for the immigrant? The nativists dismiss the changes out of hand, but the Congressional Hispanic Caucus does as well. The H2B program has other problems as to what conditions workers are housed in, how fairly will they be recruited, how much they're paid and the like. But the caucus opposes the revision of the program as piecemeal. They believe it should beas part of a comprehensive immigrant reform. (See LA Times article.)


, , , HOMELAND SECURITY AND ICE TO ANSWER TO CONGRESS ON HEALTH CARE FOR DETAINEES
The Senate will hold hearings today on claims of the inadequacy of health care for immigrants detained by Homeland Security and ICE. Next week the House will take its turn. Congress is responding to a series of revelations of shoddy care and even death in ICE detention centers by the Washington Post and NY Times and CBS. (See Washington Post article.)

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