The Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Labor announced an agreement Tuesday to work together in cracking down on companies that “discriminate” against U.S. workers by hiring foreign workers.
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and the Labor Department will start sharing information on employers, refer issues to the appropriate officials at each department and offer training to each other’s staff under the agreement.
Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore said in a statement that the agreement will help the civil rights division’s “ability to identify employers the favor temporary visa holders over U.S. workers who can do the job.”
{mosads}“Employers should hire workers based on their skills, experience, and authorization to work; not based on discriminatory preferences that violate the law,” he said.
Rosemary Lahasky, the deputy assistant secretary for Labor’s employment and training administration, said in a statement that sharing the information “will help protect U.S. workers from unlawful discrimination.”
DOJ and Labor say they reached the agreement “to better protect U.S. workers from discrimination by employers that prefer to hire temporary visa workers over qualified U.S. workers.”
President Trump has promoted an “America First” agenda, criticizing companies that move plants out of the U.S. and stoking concerns about immigrants taking American jobs.
Critics have hit Trump over the statements, noting that his own private properties have filed multiple requests to hire foreign workers. The properties hire the workers through the H-2B visa program, which allows American employers to bring foreign workers to the country for temporary, nonagricultural work.
The employers must be able to show there are not enough American workers able or willing to fill the seasonal jobs.
The Trump National Golf Club in Florida asked the Labor Department for permission to hire about a dozen foreign workers this month, BuzzFeed News reported.
Other properties have made similar requests, including Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Trump has defended the practice, saying in 2015 that it is “very hard to get people in Florida for seasonal jobs.”