The H-2B visa program garnered further attention from legislators and the national media this week following the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s oversight hearing on Wednesday.
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At this point, it’s still unclear what affect the hearing will have on the passage of the H-2B seasonal guestworker program, said Tom Delaney, director of government affairs for the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET).
The H-2B visa program, used by many firms in the landscape industry, has been entangled in the greater debate over comprehensive immigration reform this year. As a result, Congress has not passed a provision that would allow returning workers to be exempt from the program’s cap of 66,000 guest workers. At the same time, H-2B opponents, like the Southern Poverty Law Center, have stepped up allegations of worker abuse within the H-2B program. The abuse allegations are the major reason the judiciary committee’s immigration subcommittee granted the oversight hearing on the H-2B program.
The hearing focused on three major points, Delaney said: There were those discussing the need for Congress to pass the returning-worker exemption, including seasonal business owners and Congress members who support that provision; there were those, like the SPLC's Mary Bauer, who oppose the H-2B program on the basis that it systemically abuses workers; and there were those, including Rep. Louis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), who focused on the need for comprehensive immigration reform.
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Delaney estimates 100 members of the green industry were part of the standing-room-only crowd that required two overflow rooms to hold all the spectators. About 300 small and seasonal business supporters attended, according to an e-mail update from Hank Lavery, president off Save Small Business.
POSSIBLE OUTCOMES. While it’s still too early to know what the hearing’s results will be, Delaney said it could encourage more legislators to sign a discharge petition that would require the House to vote on the H-2B bill.
He also noted the hearing could draw more media attention to the need for passing the H-2B returning-worker exemption. Friday, two days after the hearing, an editorial in the Boston Globe urged Congress to pass the exemption, saying “the country can’t afford to take seasonal businesses as hostages.”
Comments during the hearing from judiciary committee leaders, as reported by the Associated Press, suggest they agree.
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"This Congress has acted quite a bit on border security and interior immigration enforcement, but has not yet acted much in the area of addressing immigration policy fixes," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., chairwoman of the subcommittee. She also “expressed her desire to achieve a successful outcome for the H-2B crisis, while at the same time addressing issues of worker protections,” Lavery said.
Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, suggested policy fixes may have to come piecemeal, the AP reported. “Conyers was present and active throughout the hearing, and he was quite animated in wanting to achieve relief for the H-2B crisis,” Lavery said.