Slotkin seeks 44K more visas for seasonal guest workers, plans border security legislation

Washington — Amid labor shortages, Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin is asking the Biden administration to boost the number of H-2B seasonal guest-worker visas by 44,000 nationwide for employers looking to bring on workers by April 1.

The Holly lawmaker also is urging senior officials to ensure the "timely release" of visas for farmworkers through the H-2A visa program, noting that in years past the visas for both farms and small businesses have been issued too late, so they can't stay open all season.

Slotkin wrote last week to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Majorkas and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, saying that raising the visa cap would provide "significant relief" to Michigan's tourism economy.

She offered the example of Mackinac Island, which relies on an influx of 4,000 to 5,000 workers during its peak April-November season.

"I ask for your help in raising the cap on H-2B visas and ensuring the timely release of H-2A and H2B visas to get Michigan businesses and farmers the workforce they need, when they need it," Slotkin wrote. "These temporary workers are not replacing American jobs, they are in addition to American jobs."

Asked to comment, the Department of Homeland Security said Monday it responds to congressional correspondence through official channels.  The agency in December said it was making available an additional 20,000 H-2B temporary non-agricultural worker visas for the winter season for employers looking to bring on workers by March 1. 

The H-2B visa program requires U.S. employers to first try to recruit an American for the job and seek certification from the Labor Department that there were none available to hire for the work.

In an interview, Slotkin said she gets calls every year from the tourism industry, including from businesses and hotels on Mackinac and in her district, as well as farmers who can't get enough workers to run their farms. This year was more extreme, she said. 

"The thing that's really changed over the past year is how desperately our businesses need workers," she said.

Mackinac employers would like to know how many visas they’re going to get by April 1 so they can help them open up for the busy season, but instead they don't usually learn about visa status until June, Slotkin said.

"This was to make the point that not only do we need more visas, we need people to be able to come to the United States for a legitimate, legal job and applying from their home country — not by illegally crossing our border," Slotkin said, noting the "crush" of migrants that has been heading to the U.S. from central America each spring. 

The need for temporary guest workers "is real," said Tim Hygh, executive director of the Mackinac Island Convention and Visitors Bureau and Tourism Bureau.

"Every guest worker creates 4 openings for local workers. We need the additional visas approved asap," Hygh tweeted. "Everybody wins."

She said she is introducing border security legislation this week including a bill requiring DHS to create a strategy for integrating more sophisticated technologies to monitor the border. The other is a reintroduction of a bill requiring detained migrants receive basic necessities like access to a bathroom, shower and hygiene items.

She has signed onto legislation with Republican Rep. Fred Upton of St. Joseph that aims to address the shortage of farmworkers available by expanding the H-2A program to be year-round and creating program for farm workers to earn legal status through continued agricultural employment.

The Farm Workforce Modernization Act passed the House this session and last but has not been taken up in the Senate. 

Another Michigan lawmaker last week wrote Mayorkas in opposition to a requirement that essential workers entering the U.S., including H-2A agricultural workers, be vaccinated against COVID-19 before coming into the country. 

U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Grand Rapids Township, signed onto a letter with colleagues last week concerned that the new rule would delay the arrival of farm laborers or keep them from coming at all this season, potentially affecting the food supply. 

The lawmakers want flexibility with an option for employers to vaccinate laborers when they arrive or offering vaccination clinics at U.S. embassies and consular offices in the laborers' home countries. 

mburke@detroitnews.com