New York: The Department of Homeland security of the US said on Monday, the government is allowing 15,000 additional visas for temporary seasonal workers to help American businesses in danger of suffering irreparable harm as a result of lack of labour.
US Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly observed on consulting with Labour Secretary Alexander Acosta that there were not enough qualified and willing American workers available to do nonagricultural work, the department said in a statement.
“As a demonstration of the administration’s commitment to supporting American businesses, DHS is providing this one-time increase to the congressionally set annual cap,” Kelly said in a statement, reports HT.
Among those who are eligible for the Temporary visas are workers at seasonal resorts as well as in landscaping, seafood harvesting, and processing, the government said.
An urgent need of workers has led many seasonal businesses and members of Congress to plead with Kelly to issue the visas.
Roy Beck, president of Numbers USA, a group that favors reduced immigration levels, said in a statement the decision “threatens to reverse the trend of reports emerging around the country of employers working harder and raising pay to successfully recruit more unemployed Americans for lower-skilled jobs.”
“This is yet another example of the administration and Congress failing to keep the Trump campaign promise of putting American workers first,” he said.