US to allow 30,000 workers entry for seasonal jobs

The Trump administration plans to let an additional 30,000 foreigners return to the United States through September for seasonal work, a move that reflects how the booming economy has complicated President Donald Trump’s hard-line efforts on immigration.

Details of the plan were in a draft rule obtained by The Associated Press. It would benefit oystershucking companies, fisheries, loggers and seasonal hotels, including Trump’s own Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. All use the visas to hire migrants for temporary work.

The visas, known as H-2Bs, will go only to returning foreign workers who have had the visa before, over the past three budget years. Many go back to the same employers year after year. Those workers have had background checks, are trusted and are not likely to stay past their visa, officials said.

The strong US economy has made it increasingly difficult for employers to find labor. The number of seasonal visas has been capped at 66,000 per budget year.

Employers say they desperately need more labor, pitting businesses against people inside and outside the White House who say the visas take away American jobs.

Trump had once railed against the flow of foreign workers and argued, despite conflicting evidence, that foreigners hurt American workers by competing for jobs and driving down wages. But Trump now says he favors more legal immigration because of economic gains on his watch.

Officials from the departments of Homeland Security and Labor said the decision to allocate the visas was based in part on the fact some businesses could face irreparable harm if they can’t employ the workers. The departments have jointly decided to raise the cap during the past two budget years, but it was only 15,000 more in those years.

The acting Homeland Security secretary, Kevin McAleenan, said the additional visas were a temporary fix. He said his department wants lawmakers “to pursue a longterm legislative fix that both meets employers’ temporary needs while fulfilling” Trump’s executive orders on American buying and hiring.

According to the most recent government data on visa approvals, half of the temporary visas went to horticultural and agricultural workers. Food service, forestry and logging work and fisheries, hunter trappers made up the bulk of the rest of the 2017 visas.