U.S. allows more seasonal workers as Trump pushes 'hire American'

[webfact]

U.S. allows more seasonal workers as Trump pushes 'hire American'

By Doina Chiacu and David Shepardson

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump addresses the "Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration" at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, U.S., January 19, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government cleared the way on Monday for thousands more foreign workers to enter the country under temporary seasonal visas, just as President Donald Trump declared this "Made In America" week and pledged to stand up for U.S. workers.

 

Advocates of stricter limits on immigration criticized the additional visas, saying American workers should get job openings.

 

Trump, a former New York real estate magnate who has relied on seasonal workers at his hotels and resorts, campaigned on promises to restore American jobs. On Monday, he showcased "Made in America" products at the White House and made an impassioned defence of America First policies.

 

"We're going to stand up for our companies and maybe most importantly for our workers," the Republican president said. "Clearly it's time for a new policy, one defined by two simple rules: We will buy American. And we will hire American."

 

Federal officials said there were not enough qualified and willing American workers available to perform certain types of temporary nonagricultural work.

 

As a result, the government will allow 15,000 additional visas for temporary seasonal workers, meant to help American businesses in danger of suffering irreparable harm because of a shortage of such labour, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

 

"As a demonstration of the administration's commitment to supporting American businesses, DHS is providing this one-time increase to the congressionally set annual cap," Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly said in a statement.

 

Many seasonal businesses such as resorts, landscaping companies and seafood harvesters and processors had sought permission to temporarily hire more immigrants.

 

Congress originally set the cap at 66,000 workers for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. In May, lawmakers gave Kelly authority to approve up to an additional 70,000 temporary visas and pleaded with him to use his authority to issue as many of them as he thought appropriate.

 

Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, a group that supports immigration controls, said in a statement the decision "threatens to reverse the trend of reports emerging around the country of employers working harder and raising pay to successfully recruit more unemployed Americans for lower-skilled jobs."

 

Beck said it was "yet another example of the administration and Congress failing to keep the Trump campaign promise of putting American workers first."

 

'MINIMAL RELIEF GRANTED'

 

Trump campaigned on an "America First" platform of favouring Americans for hiring. Trump's golf resorts in Florida have used the visas, however, to hire temporary guest workers (http://reut.rs/1R4pKma).

 

The clothing line of the president's older daughter and adviser, Ivanka Trump, uses foreign factories employing low-wage workers in countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and China, a recent Washington Post report showed.

 

A group of U.S. companies that use the visas, called the "the H-2B Workforce Coalition," praised the "minimal relief granted."

It said: "From landscapers in Colorado to innkeepers in Maine to seafood processors along the Gulf Coast to carnivals nationwide, we hope the visa expansion will help some businesses avoid substantial financial loss, and in some cases, prevent early business closures during their peak season."

 

A report on Monday by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, found, however, there was little evidence of worker shortages in H-2B jobs at the national level.

 

“Expanding the H-2B programme without reforming it to improve protections and increase wages for migrant workers will essentially allow unscrupulous employers to carve out an even larger rights-free zone in the low-wage labour market,” said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the institute.

 

Kelly has acknowledged that many temporary workers "are victimized when they come up here, in terms of what they’re paid."

 

DHS said the government had created a tip line to report any abuse of the visas or employer violations.

 

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and David Shepardson in Washington; Additional reporting by Mica Rosenberg in New York; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-18

[silent]

Does anybody know if Trump ever really worked a day in his life or just talked about it?  

[Dustdevil]

 A shortage of labor means the economy is in great shape overall. But there is also a shortage of skilled labor. It is not because not enough Americans go to university. It's because American society reached a developed and comfortable level so long ago that young people are spoiled and still think they can take out loans to study philosophy, Spanish, music, gender politics, etc. etc. My ex-wife had the presence of mind to talk our son's friend out of majoring in German to switch to something lucrative. I believe it was computer science or engineering and he did fine. What the heck are you going to do with a BA in German?  You need full immersion in it anyway--which means living in Germany for a year or two after the degree. After that, guess how many interpreter/translator jobs there are available in German/English in North America (he'd never get an EU work visa).

[iReason]

"Trump, a former New York real estate magnate who has relied on seasonal workers at his hotels and resorts,

campaigned on promises to restore American jobs.'

 

"On Monday, he showcased "Made in America" products at the White House and made an impassioned defence of America First policies."

 

"We're going to stand up for our companies and maybe most importantly for our workers," the Republican president said.

"Clearly it's time for a new policy, one defined by two simple rules:

We will buy American.

And we will hire American."

 

 

Now the inept, hypocritical, chronic liar needs to get clear on returning the jobs from Mexico, China, Bangladesh, Vietnam and the Honduras,

where he has his goods with his name on them made from cheap labor in said countries.

(and more, along with his daughter's same methods.)

[Stargeezr]

Yes it is being realized in the USA that most Americans will not do the harvesting of fruits and vegetables as good or as quickly as the hired help from Mexico or other countries. The same realization happened in Canada as well.  In Canada if you do not have at least grade 12 education and some tech or university training, you might as well check with Walmart, or some other big box store, or go work in the food industry somewhere.

Geezer

[iReason]

Made in America week prompts questions about Trump products

http://video.foxnews.com/v/5510646292001/?#sp=show-clips

 

 

[heybruce]

Americans want year round jobs, not low-paid, zero benefit seasonal work.  Students can do some of the seasonal work, but there aren't enough students where the jobs are, and many are too soft for the kind of hard work that needs to be done. 

 

The best way to reduce illegal immigration is to make legal immigration for temporary work easier.  Not only would that work better than the wall, it would be better for the economy.  But that scares the Republican base, who think all immigrants are brown and scary.  Of course Trump used and promoted this fear.

[Becker]

3 hours ago, mesquite said:

Yes indeed.  All that liberal arts stuff can be done in one's spare time.

It might be good to get a "cake" undergraduate degree (political science, P.E., sociology, education, etc) that grades easy if someone wants to go to law school and needs a 3.8 or better GPA.  But then be ready for a big shock at the increase in work load in law school after a four year vacation.

Good to see you man-child supporters focus on the topic at hand, which obviously is liberal, snowflaky education and how that is the cause behind why the orange abomination has to backtrack on yet another promise.

[iReason]

*Removed post edited out*

 

"Regarding Trump products being made overseas, no big secret and in terms of his presidency, a big nothing burger."

Here's some fat for your parroted phrase "burger":

 

"Made in America Week".

One of the hypocritical inept one's school projects:

http://video.foxnews.com/v/5510646289001/?#sp=show-clips

 

Trump's 'Made in America' week: the president's hypocrisy is on display

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/17/made-in-america-week-donald-trump-businesses

 

‘Made in America’ Week Renews Focus on Trump Goods Manufactured Overseas

"We want to build, create and grow more products in our country using American labor, American goods, and American grit,"

Trump said at a White House event touting products made in all 50 states, kicking off the administration's "Made in America"-themed week."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/made-america-week-renews-focus-trump-goods-manufactured-overseas-n783896

 

"Trump will be reelected in 2020"

The inept one will be run out of office in disgrace.

 

Then, America will be great again. 

 

 

Edited July 18, 2017 by Scott

[ilostmypassword]

Actually, Trump also uses the H2B visa program for temporary workers at Mar a Lago. The thing is, he claims it's because he can't find local workers. That's a dubious proposition.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article76524527.html

[the guest]

Like most, he's a hypocrite. Name me a western country that doesn't exploit poorer nations to produce cheap goods ?

[tonray]

6 minutes ago, the guest said:

Like most, he's a hypocrite. Name me a western country that doesn't exploit poorer nations to produce cheap goods ?

California? 

[ilostmypassword]

9 minutes ago, the guest said:

Like most, he's a hypocrite. Name me a western country that doesn't exploit poorer nations to produce cheap goods ?

Do you realize that you're comparing a person to a country? The conduct of one person to the conduct of thousands and thousands if not millions and millions of people who make up the various nations of the west? It's an invalid comparison. 

 

[YetAnother]

Hipocracy is not a crime;

Does tend to expose a fool

[YetAnother]

1 hour ago, ilostmypassword said:

Do you realize that you're comparing a person to a country? The conduct of one person to the conduct of thousands and thousands if not millions and millions of people who make up the various nations of the west? It's an invalid comparison. 

 

Well said, so often people tend to broad-brush large groups with individual personal traits

Doesn't actually fit

Edited July 18, 2017 by YetAnother

[Thaidream]

America does need foreign labor but it makes no sense to deport people already here who have never committed a crime and paid their taxes. Bringing thousands more into the country doesn't cancel out the disruption of a good worker who couldn't get legal.  The whole system is broken and the politicians refuse to fix it.  If the Trump supporters feel so strongly about illegal Immigration they might want to line up to pick tomatoes in California; pluck chickens in the processing plants in South Carolina and shovel dirt on construction sites in New York. Guess what- there won't be a line because they can't work that hard for the pay and the companies won't raise the wages and if they did the consumers would complain.

 

Trump and his minions are great with slogans but they are failing on every issue. There is no universal healthcare bill; there is no infrastructure  program which will provide good paid jobs; there is no tax reform bill and there is certainly no Immigration bill.

 

Trump and his people are inept and incompetent and he could never be elected again as even his supporters will see the fallacy of keeping him in power. He may want to try Russia since he and his family appear to meet with them regularly.

[Grubster]

11 hours ago, Dustdevil said:

 A shortage of labor means the economy is in great shape overall. But there is also a shortage of skilled labor. It is not because not enough Americans go to university. It's because American society reached a developed and comfortable level so long ago that young people are spoiled and still think they can take out loans to study philosophy, Spanish, music, gender politics, etc. etc. My ex-wife had the presence of mind to talk our son's friend out of majoring in German to switch to something lucrative. I believe it was computer science or engineering and he did fine. What the heck are you going to do with a BA in German?  You need full immersion in it anyway--which means living in Germany for a year or two after the degree. After that, guess how many interpreter/translator jobs there are available in German/English in North America (he'd never get an EU work visa).

There are plenty of qualified workers in the US, just not the ones willing to work for less and less and less. This problem is moving up the food chain pretty fast, they are targeting those used to be high paid programers and the like now.  Its not the worker missing its the American dream has been stamped out.

[Scott]

Off-topic posts and replies removed.  

[ilostmypassword]

12 hours ago, Dustdevil said:

 A shortage of labor means the economy is in great shape overall. But there is also a shortage of skilled labor. It is not because not enough Americans go to university. It's because American society reached a developed and comfortable level so long ago that young people are spoiled and still think they can take out loans to study philosophy, Spanish, music, gender politics, etc. etc. My ex-wife had the presence of mind to talk our son's friend out of majoring in German to switch to something lucrative. I believe it was computer science or engineering and he did fine. What the heck are you going to do with a BA in German?  You need full immersion in it anyway--which means living in Germany for a year or two after the degree. After that, guess how many interpreter/translator jobs there are available in German/English in North America (he'd never get an EU work visa).

I'm sure you have some data to back up your assertion about there a problem because "young people can still take out loans to study philosophy, Spanish, music, gender politics etc.." You know, hard numbers. What percentage of the university students are pursuing such courses as majors. I'm sure you wouldn't be asserting this simply on the basis of your impressions.  

[selftaopath]

16 hours ago, heybruce said:

Americans want year round jobs, not low-paid, zero benefit seasonal work.  Students can do some of the seasonal work, but there aren't enough students where the jobs are, and many are too soft for the kind of hard work that needs to be done. 

 

The best way to reduce illegal immigration is to make legal immigration for temporary work easier.  Not only would that work better than the wall, it would be better for the economy.  But that scares the Republican base, who think all immigrants are brown and scary.  Of course Trump used and promoted this fear.

"Of course Trump used and promoted this fear." And I would add HATRED. He/they not only fear but hate - and then there's the "superiority" view of themselves.

[ilostmypassword]

During ‘Made in America Week,’ Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club applies to hire 70 foreign workers

President Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida has asked permission to hire 70 foreign workers this fall, attesting — in the middle of the White House's “Made in America Week” — that it cannot find qualified Americans to serve as cooks, waiters and housekeepers.

Those requests were made to the Department of Labor in recent days and posted online Thursday. The for-profit club, where Trump spent numerous weekends this spring, asked permission to hire 15 housekeepers,20 cooks and 35 waiters.

In addition, Trump's golf club in nearby Jupiter, Fla. asked permission to hire six foreign workers as cooks.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/07/20/during-made-in-america-week-president-trumps-mar-a-lago-club-applies-to-hire-70-foreign-workers/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_maralago-706pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.0d98342c6894

[pegman]

On July 18, 2017 at 9:38 AM, Grubster said:

There are plenty of qualified workers in the US, just not the ones willing to work for less and less and less. This problem is moving up the food chain pretty fast, they are targeting those used to be high paid programers and the like now.  Its not the worker missing its the American dream has been stamped out.

 

10 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

During ‘Made in America Week,’ Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club applies to hire 70 foreign workers

President Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida has asked permission to hire 70 foreign workers this fall, attesting — in the middle of the White House's “Made in America Week” — that it cannot find qualified Americans to serve as cooks, waiters and housekeepers.

Those requests were made to the Department of Labor in recent days and posted online Thursday. The for-profit club, where Trump spent numerous weekends this spring, asked permission to hire 15 housekeepers,20 cooks and 35 waiters.

In addition, Trump's golf club in nearby Jupiter, Fla. asked permission to hire six foreign workers as cooks.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/07/20/during-made-in-america-week-president-trumps-mar-a-lago-club-applies-to-hire-70-foreign-workers/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_maralago-706pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.0d98342c6894

What is the reponce from Trump supporters? If that guy played by market economy rules he would pay a rate that would entice Americans to work there.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/07/21/trumps-florida-resorts-want-to-hire-dozens-of-foreign-workers_a_23041112/?utm_hp_ref=ca-homepage

[iReason]

7 minutes ago, pegman said:

What is the reponce from Trump supporters?

Their standard one:

[Grubster]

4 hours ago, pegman said:

 

What is the reponce from Trump supporters? If that guy played by market economy rules he would pay a rate that would entice Americans to work there.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/07/21/trumps-florida-resorts-want-to-hire-dozens-of-foreign-workers_a_23041112/?utm_hp_ref=ca-homepage

What the hell are you talking about, why don't you go pick some tomatoes.