Tornado Alley (PROG)

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Departments of Justice, State to punish companies favoring foreign visa workers over US citizens

The Department of Justice is teaming up with the Department of State to punish companies that favor foreign visa workers in favor of "qualified" U.S. citizen workers.

The new partnership allows the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs to share information about employers "that may be engaging in unlawful discrimination, committing fraud, or making other misrepresentations" by picking foreign visa workers over U.S. workers.

The visas in question include H-1B, H-2A, and H-2B visas.

The announcement comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed by the Civil Rights Division's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section in Colorado against a company that allegedly discriminated against U.S. workers in favor of H-2A visa workers.

That division of the Civil Rights Division launched an initiative in February to start bringing punishments against companies engaging in such an activity, and the Colorado lawsuit is its first.

Civil Rights Division's Acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Gore called the new partnership a way to hold employees "accountable" for discrimination against "qualified U.S. workers."

"Today's agreement reflects the Civil Rights Division's commitment to use all available tools, including collaboration with other federal agencies, to protect U.S. workers from discrimination. The Division welcomes the Department of State as a partner in this effort," Gore said in a statement.

H-1B visas are for specialty or technical expertise workers as a means for U.S. companies to employ graduate level workers. H-2A visas are for temporary work visas for foreign agricultural workers to work seasonally, and an HB-2 visa allows a US employer to hire a migrant worker to work a temporary, seasonal job in industries such as hospitality.

The Labor Department said in June it would be working to combat fraud in its visa programs for foreign workers.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/departments-of-justice-state-to-punish-companies-favoring-foreign-visa-workers-over-us-citizens/article/2637188