Mark Borst Honored with FEWA “Legislative Champion Award”

The Federation of Employers & Workers of America (FEWA) recognized Mark Borst, president and founder of Borst Landscape and Design in Allendale, with a “Legislative Champion Award” in the Business/Employer category. The honor recognized Borst’s efforts to maintain the federal H-2B non-immigrant employment program, which had been facing elimination.

The H-2B program allows employers to hire foreign workers to come to the United States on a 10-month work visa. Borst Landscape and Design, like many landscape firms, employs a significant percentage of its seasonal staff in this manner. According to Borst, the program has been in jeopardy for the past two years, and he has helped FEWA lobby for its preservation.

“The H-2B program is a legalized way to hire foreign workers,” he said. “Approximately 100,000 people are in the program and eliminating it would prohibit their opportunity to be here lawfully.”

Borst received his award at a formal ceremony in Washington, D.C. The FEWA Legislative Champion Award was created to honor those who are instrumental in the advocacy effort to reform the nation’s immigration and guest worker laws. Specifically, this year’s recipients were instrumental in advocacy efforts to pass the “Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006” (S.2611) and the “Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2006” (S.2284).

FEWA is an internationally recognized, non-profit trade association of employers and workers in diverse industries such as landscape, nursery, arbor care, construction and hospitality, among others. The group provides its members with informational services related to cultural diversity and non-immigrant and immigrant labor management issues. Its programs include legislative and immigration updates, educational publications and conferences, legal advice and research, scholarships, and worker relief programs.