Unbelievable! USCIS delayed the #H2B rule for 55 days past employer's start dates. Then tells them all that their labor certifications are "out of date" if the start date was more than 45 days ago, forcing them to redo the whole process. Wonder why we've got illegal immigration?
I'm certain that #H2B employers will do this, but it is absolutely ridiculous and unfair to employers that are trying to follow the law. They met all the requirements. They did everything right, and now USCIS says they have to redo it b/c the agency messed up. Unbelievable.
USCIS says every employer under this rule will have to prove "irreparable harm" if they don't get visas and that the visas will help preserve US workers jobs. Yet it is arbitrarily capping the number of visas at 1/3 the number Congress allowed. It doesn't even try to justify it
It's literally baked into the rule that companies who don't get visas will face irreparable harm and that US workers will suffer, and USCIS even says so. Yet it's still moving forward with this 22K cap when Congress gave them 64K
I love this. USCIS says we're acting to prevent "serious economic harm to the H-2B community" but then never acknowledges that the 22K will cause that as well. Also, never acknowledges that it wouldn't need to bypass comments if it proposed the rule in Dec or Jan or Feb or Mar!
Here's the reason. Economically obtuse labor union advocacy. Unemployment is *always* higher in these occupations because the jobs are inherently temporary, so more stints of unemployment are guaranteed. That's why US workers are less likely to apply!
I explain this issue in my #H2B paper. More stints of unemployment, but of much shorter duration. cato.org/publications/p…
Why is this issue so important? Because H-2 visas are the main or only way for poor foreign workers without families already here to come to the United States legally. Saying you don't want H-2B workers is basically just saying you don't want poor workers coming.
Here's a bizarre thing. USCIS will reallocate the visas set aside for Central America to other countries if they aren't used by July 8 to "help ensure that supplemental H-2B visas do not go unused." Your whole rule is about ensuring that most supplemental visas *do* go unused!
So USCIS is undermining the efficacy of the Central American set-aside in an effort to make sure that visas don't go unused. Why not just make the other visas available? What on Earth is going on here?

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More from @David_J_Bier

21 May
What's your least favorite most annoying #I485 question? This one is truly nuts uscis.gov/sites/default/…
Why are there so many questions about things that appear to me to be unrelated to someone's eligibility for adjustment of status? Why are you asking about activities and conduct that aren't related to your eligibility for a visa?
It seems to me that USCIS asks lots of questions for which there is no statutory basis to trap people in incorrect answers because they may not know what's relevant and what's not. Then if you supply incorrect info, then they can deny you!
Read 5 tweets
21 May
In addition to our previously published regulatory reform ideas, Cato's comment included three additional proposals for USCIS on H visas. First, USCIS increase the H-2 status limit to 6 years. The 3-year limit is not supported in the statute cato.org/blog/uscis-sho…
6 years would harmonize with H-1B. More importantly, the 3-year limit reduces the number of available H-2 workers (particularly for H-2B), while also decreasing the bargaining power for all H-2 workers who have reached the 3-year limit since employers know they can't change jobs
Second, USCIS should create a 60‐​day “grace period” of authorized status for H-2A and H-2B workers to find subsequent jobs, and it should allow the new job to start as soon as a petition is filed on their behalf. cato.org/blog/uscis-sho…
Read 8 tweets
21 May
He says there is no labor shortage b/c all companies need to do to get workers is raise wages. But then he says that companies are raising wages and concludes by giving several reasons why "shortages" are happening anyway nytimes.com/2021/05/20/bri…
In the technical sense, of course, the fact that McDonalds can't find workers at whatever wage isn't a "shortage." But the idea that it'll ever make financial sense for McDonalds to pay $25/hour to take burger orders is absurd.
So... Americans have dropped out of the labor force. Small businesses can't afford to raise wages, and the government is paying people not to work, so even raising wages isn't enough to pull them back in. I'm just confused by his piece.
Read 5 tweets
20 May
I'm reading the comments on USCIS's "comment box" for all the ways they could be a better agency. Here's the first one from @GSiskind. I love it!
There's so much to love in this next one. Why are EADs necessary at all?
USCIS is not a serious agency. We all know this. But not using email is an embarrassment.
Read 50 tweets
19 May
Imagine how much suffering would have been avoided, how much bigger, better, stronger, and more interesting the United States would be today, how much more freedom and prosperity there would be on this continent if the US had maintained free immigration at least in North America.
The millions of arrests, incarcerations, deportations. Tens of thousands of deaths in the deserts and rivers, and many more at the hands of cartels and criminals. Families torn apart. Homelessness. So much poverty and suffering and lost prosperity for us and them.
The only purpose of it all was just to keep Americans and other North Americans separated. How many great Americans never came to exist? How many great businesses, movies, music, foods were lost? We know so many were created. So much joy to remind us how much more could have been
Read 4 tweets
16 Apr
Some expected effects of letting migrants come legally rather than illegally:

-Immigrants would travel to the US on reputable airlines.
-Human smuggling networks would lose billions of dollars in revenue.
-Thousands of deaths of immigrants would be prevented along the journey.
-Thousands of crimes against migrants would be prevented.
-Many more immigrants would free themselves from all manner of despotism.
-Freedom of religion, speech, association, property ownership, education, etc. would increase.
-People living in poverty would fall.
-More immigrants would return to their home countries for visits or permanently.
-The number of legal violations would fall by millions.
-The black market in fake identification documents would almost disappear.
-Billions of dollars of law enforcement spending would be freed up.
Read 8 tweets

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