Federal officials order 15,000 new visas

Increases follow push from fisheries, hospitality industry.

Homeland Security announced the one-time increase for lowwage, seasonal workers for the remainder of this fiscal year.

The Department of Homeland Security on Monday announced a one-time increase of 15,000 additional visas for low-wage, seasonal workers for the remainder of this fiscal year, a seeming about-face from President Trump’s “Hire American” rhetoric, following heavy lobbying from the fisheries, hospitality and other industries that rely on temporary foreign workers.

The increase represents a 45 percent bump from the number of H-2B visas normally issued for the second half of the fiscal year, said senior Homeland Security officials in a call with reporters Monday.

The visas are for workers taking seasonal jobs in the seafood, tourism and other industries — but not farm laborers.

Businesses must first attest that their firms would suffer permanent “irreparable harm” without importing foreign workers, and will be required to retain documents proving that they would not otherwise be able to meet their contractual obligations, the officials said.

The officials said the government made the decision after “considering the interest of U.S. workers” and has created a tip line for reports of worker exploitation and abuse.

“[Secretary John Kelly] first and foremost is committed to protecting U.S. workers and strengthening the integrity of our immigration system,” one of the Homeland Security officials said.

Congress paved the way to increasing the number of H-2B workers in May when it passed an omnibus budget to avoid a government shutdown. Part of the deal included giving the Secretary of Homeland Security the authority to increase the number of foreign workers, after consulting with the Secretary of Labor, “upon determination that the needs of American businesses cannot be satisfied in fiscal year 2017 with United States workers who are willing, qualified, and able to perform temporary nonagricultural labor.” (Farm workers enter the U.S. under a different visa, known as the H-2A.)

Current law limits the number of such visas issued to 66,000 a year — split among two halves of the year. The cap has already been reached this year. Visas for more than 120,000 positions have been requested so far in fiscal 2017, according to Department of Labor statistics.