Foreign Worker Programs Appear to Lack Oversight: Report Lists Firms Debarred for Violations

WASHINGTON, April 1, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new report by the Center for Immigration Studies finds high likelihood of missed violations of the rules in major guestworker visa programs and the various employment-based permanent immigrant programs. In addition, the report collects in one place for the first time the information available on employers whose participation in the programs was suspended, at least temporarily, by the federal government due to misconduct.

The report, "Taking Names: List of Firms Barred from Foreign Worker Programs Likely Just Scratches the Surface," is authored by David North, a Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and former Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Labor. The report is available online at: http://cis.org/Debarred-Firms-2011.

The list of penalized employers included in the report is organized by the state the employers were located in at the time they were debarred. Additionally, the list includes information on the employer name and location, the program the employer was participating in, and information on penalty they received.

Among the improbably low rates of abuse of these programs, based on the proportion of participating employers that were debarred from participation, are these:

• Only 1 out of 983 employers using the H-1B program;

• Only 1 out of 1,278 employers using the H-2A program;

• Only 1 out of 500 employers using the H-2B program; and

• Though the exact number of employers participating in employment-based permanent resident programs is unknown, the report estimates only 1 out of 2,500 employers was debarred.

The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent research institute that examines the impact of immigration on the United States.

Contact: Bryan Griffith
(202) 466-8185, [email protected]

SOURCE Center for Immigration Studies