The Biden Administration is expanding the H-2B visa program despite how workers are essentially modern indentured servants.
by Maurizio Guerrero
This article was originally published at Prism.
The number of nonagricultural guest workers who come to the U.S. under the H-2B visa program is being expanded to unprecedented levels by the Biden administration even though the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL)—the federal agencies with authority to add more visas to the pool—are well aware these laborers “face structural disincentives to reporting or leaving abusive conditions, and often lack power to exercise their rights in the face of exploitative employment situations.”
From 2018 to 2020 853 H-2B workers were victims of labor trafficking, while wage fraud, illegal recruitment fees, wage theft, and illegal threats of retaliation have been constant features of the program, facilitated by the fact that it’s almost impossible for workers to quit their jobs since their visas are tied to a single employer. Former Rep. Charles Rangel, the former chairman of the influential Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives, called the program “the closest thing I’ve ever seen to slavery.”
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