Farmers Will Find It Even Harder to Hire Workers Under the New H-2A Visa Rule
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a new regulation that makes it more difficult for farmers to hire immigrants and address the severe labor shortage that the industry is now experiencing, which threatens to raise already record-high food costs. Increasing the number of immigrant agricultural laborers can lower food prices and boost incomes, claims a recent Texas A&M University study. Despite this, the DOL has proposed a rule that would make hiring even more difficult for American farmers by adding more paperwork and stages that may lengthen the H-2A application process by nearly seven months.
Source: Boundless
Employers in the US are having trouble filling open positions
“Help Wanted” billboards for salespeople, waiters, and postal employees are commonplace across the country as businesses battle a labor shortage brought on by the epidemic, a wave of early retirements, and tough immigration regulations. Many people who left the workforce as Covid-19 began to devastate the US economy in early 2020 have never come back.
Source: VOA
Backlog for green cards decreases in August
By raising the number of interviews scheduled for August from 36% over July, the National Visa Center (NVC) of the Department of State made some headway this month on reducing the backlog for immigrant visas (IV). Compared to the 32,888 interviews slated for August 2022, little over 24,000 interviews were scheduled for July 2022. Due to the increase in green card interviews, the backlog decreased proportionately, from 409,645 outstanding cases last month to 388,780 cases this month—a almost 6% reduction.
Source: Boundless
Civil Rights Organizations Demand an Investigation Into ICE Sting Operation
In 2015, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) established a phony institution, and more than 40 organizations asked for an investigation into it. The University of Farmington in Michigan was established as part of the sting operation, which allegedly sought to expose student visa fraud. It is claimed that the operation resulted in the unlawful detention of more than 600 students and netted more than $6 million in tuition payments from the victims.
Source: Boundless
