Letter to Leon Rodriguez, Director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Partia Wu, Assistant Secretary of the Employment & Training Administration - The Suspension of H-2B Visa Applications
Letter
Dear Director Rodriguez and Secretary Wu:
I am writing in regard to the ongoing delay in processing H-2B visa applications. It has come to my attention that, as a result of Federal Court for the Northern District of Florida's decision in Perez v. Perez, No. 3:14-cv-682 (N.D. Florida, Mar. 4, 2015), both the Department of Labor (DOL) and Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have jointly suspended processing H-2B visa applications.
For many small businesses in the Ninth Congressional District of Massachusetts, this delay in processing and approving the H-2B applications caused by this ruling will have an irreparable impact on their ability to meet the high-demand of the upcoming summer tourism season. As you seek to understand and finalize the extent to which your agency may continue with the applications, I respectfully urge you to see approved applications through and to prioritize pending applications once the hold is lifted.
Further, as you know, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently completed a study (GAO-15-154) of the need for increased protections for foreign workers under the H-2A and H-2B visa programs. This study yielded several specific recommendations for both Departments that would help to prevent or mitigate the same challenge in future years, including consistent publication of employment and recruitment data by DHS; finalization of the data sharing agreement between DHS and DOL; and a comprehensive review of DOL's H-2B enforcement and data collection efforts.
It is my request that you work to immediately rectify the harm that will be caused by a continued H-2B processing delay by moving forward expediently with the pending and approved applications, in addition to implementing the recommendations included in GAO's study. Please do not hesitate to contact Michael Jackman at (508) 746--9000 or at Michael.Jackman@mail.house.gov with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
WILLIAM R. KEATING
Member of Congress
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