Colorado employers scramble as feds freeze worker visas
Article publisher:
The Denver Post
Article date:
17 March 2015
Article category:
Colorado News
Medium
Article Body:
Colorado landscapers, hotel operators and other employers are scrambling to find seasonal help after the Department of Homeland Security abruptly stopped issuing temporary worker visas under its H-2B program ...
After Texas, Colorado draws the most H-2B visas, with 2,056 in the works. In the warmer months, the vast majority are claimed by landscapers, followed by tourist attractions, hotels and construction firms. In the winter months, Colorado ski resorts are big users of the program ...
Employers who apply for an H-2B visa must show that there aren't "enough U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified and available to do the temporary work" before they can bring in a foreign seasonal worker ...
They must also pay the prevailing wage for a position and not undercut the market. As it has for years, DHS turned to the Department of Labor to sort out workplace issues, such as the prevailing wage ...
But earlier this month, a federal judge in northern Florida ruled that the DOL didn't have authority to issue rules for the H-2B visa program, which is administered through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of DHS ...
"Very little has come out of the (Obama) administration as to what they are going to do to fix this," said Jorge Loweree, senior counsel specializing in immigration issues with U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder. "We are largely surprised that they didn't have any contingency plans in place" ...
Joining him in a bipartisan push for a speedy resolution are Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner. Among the solutions Bennet offered in a letter to the heads of each department are the DHS delegating the authority to issue rules to the DOL or the two departments working in tandem ...