Some key Republican senators have asked the Trump administration not to prevent visas for temporary workers during the coronavirus pandemic, The Hill reported.
Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), John Cornyn (Texas), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Jim Risch (Idaho), Mike Rounds (S.D.), Todd Young (Ind.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Dan Sullivan (Alaska) and James Lankford (Okla.) contend that allowing seasonal workers to obtain H-2B and H-2A visas will help stimulate the economy.
“Some of these struggling small businesses rely on labor that many Americans may not be qualified or able to perform, even in the aftermath of the pandemic, and some of these businesses operate in industry sectors that are not experiencing high unemployment — in contrast with the overall national unemployment figures — or in particular geographical locations where qualified labor is scarce,” the senators wrote in a letter addressed to President Trump.
The lawmakers added: “Due to the temporary and seasonal nature of the work, it is exceedingly difficult to find American workers, even now, who wish to work only on a temporary basis. Many of the jobs lost since March are not temporary or seasonal.”
The Department of Homeland Security recently published a new rule, easing some of the previous restrictions for temporary workers.
It reads: "The Department is temporarily removing certain limitations on employers or U.S. agents seeking to hire certain H-2B workers already in the United States to provide temporary labor or services essential to the U.S. food supply chain, and certain H-2B workers, who are essential to the U.S. food supply chain, seeking to extend their stay."
Republican Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.) Tom Cotton (Ark.), Ted Cruz (Texas), and Chuck Grassley (Iowa) wrote a letter calling on Trump "to suspend all new guest worker visas for sixty days and to suspend certain categories of new guest worker visas for at least the next year or until unemployment has returned to normal levels."
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