WILMINGTON, Del. — Delaware Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons are leading the charge on a bipartisan effort to press the Biden administration to issue more H-2b visas to help combat seasonal staffing shortages.
The two Senators from The First State, along with thirty-eight of their colleagues, sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asking that the maximum allowable number of H-2B visas be released for fiscal year 2025.
The goal, according to the letter, is to help small businesses meet their workforce needs. The Senators point to the labor needs of everything from agriculture and tourism, to landscapers, seafood processors, fairs, and carnivals, claiming that the domestic labor force is insufficient.
“Many employers turn to the H-2B program to meet their workforce needs to not only sustain their businesses but also support their American workers,” the senators wrote. “The H-2B program places requirements on employers to recruit U.S. workers, who are intentionally prioritized by the program and also receive demonstrated, positive impacts from their seasonal colleagues. In fact, a 2020 Government Accountability Office report concluded that ‘counties with H-2B employers generally had lower unemployment rates and higher average weekly wages than counties that do not have any H-2B employers.
This bipartisan group of politicians is urging the Department of Homeland Security to publish a temporary rule implementing the release of supplemental visas.