Sen. Tillis(R-N.C.) Demanding an Increase in H-2B Visas puts Hold on Trump nominee..............

[riversedge]

Sen. Tillis Demanding an Increase in H-2B Visas



https://www.numbersusa.com/news/sen-tillis-demanding-increase-h2b-visas?platform=hootsuite

Tue, Jul 11th 2017 @ 9:44 am EDT

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) has put a hold on Pres. Trump’s nominee for USCIS director, Lee Francis Cissna, until DHS Secretary Kelly increases the number of H-2B visas available for this year. In the latest omnibus spending bill, Congress granted authority to DHS to approve 70,000 additional H-2B visas over the current cap of 66,000.

Based on Senate rules a single lawmaker is allowed to place a “hold” on a bill or nominee in order to delay action. Sen. Tillis has been a vocal advocate for increasing the number of low-skilled foreign guest workers through the H-2B visa program.

The H-2B visa is primarily used by the landscaping, hospitality, and tourism industries to fill seasonal or temporary jobs. A recent Center for Immigration Studies report argued that these H-2B jobs usually pay better than minimum wage and should go to Americans instead of foreign workers.

“These are jobs that used to be held by college students. I certainly did it when I was in college,” said Jessica Vaughan,.......................

NumbersUSA Government Relations Director Rosemary Jenks said, “President Trump won the election on a message of ending the practice of using immigration to harm American workers. I find it amazing that a few short months later, a United States senator — a Republican no less — is preventing a vote on a presidential appointee in order to extort extra visas for low-skilled..................



********and the TRump bots do not like it!************

Link to tweet

[awesomerwb1]

1. NumbersUSA??

Please don't give these hate groups more exposure.

https://www.splcenter.org/20090201/nativist-lobby-three-faces-intolerance

"This report describes how the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and NumbersUSA were founded and funded by John Tanton, a retired Michigan ophthalmologist who operates a racist publishing company and has written that to maintain American culture, "a European-American majority" is required."

[unc70]

2. College academic calendars have made a problem here

Not excusing Tillis, but there is an interesting problem here.

Some unintended consequences, aided by air conditioning. Fifty years ago, most colleges were out for the summer from last of May until mid September. That matched the harvest seasons fairly well and the resort schedules. Public schools were much the same. Memorial Day through Labor Day.

We then shifted fall semester exams to before Christmas, pushing classes into most of August. A longer break was added around Christmas. Public schools often did the same. There was also an increase in staggered schedules. Changes in labor laws kept younger workers out of many traditional jobs. So we now have fewer youth workers available for only 6-8 weeks.

[gratuitous]

3. Contrary to the united front Republicans like to present

They have a whole bunch of little pressure and conflict points. H-2B visas is just one of them, and it will be interesting to see Republicans try to place all the blame for "obstruction" on Democrats. Keep Sen. Tillis' little power play in mind when Republicans try to sell the lie that their policies are unpopular only with Democrats.