No Room In The Inn

(This has stirred up such a tempest in a teapot it’s going to take three posts to cover it. This is the second of those three.)

Why is Trump bringing hotel workers to work in the US on visas that require proving there are no qualified Americans to do the job?

— emptywheel (mr. blue sky) (@emptywheel) December 28, 2024

JMM:

Funny part of this, tho not really the point, is that Trump is almost certainly talking abt h2b visas. That’s not for engineers and ai programmers but I want someone from Bulgaria to run the soda machine at my country club and not give me any lip.

 Yeah, probably not:

The H-2B nonimmigrant program permits employers to temporarily hire nonimmigrants to perform nonagricultural labor or services in the United States. The employment must be of a temporary nature for a limited period of time such as a one-time occurrence, seasonal need, peakload need or intermittent need. The H-2B program requires the employer to attest to the Department of Labor that it will offer a wage that equals or exceeds the highest of the prevailing wage, applicable Federal minimum wage, the State minimum wage, or local minimum wage to the H-2B nonimmigrant worker for the occupation in the area of intended employment during the entire period of the approved H-2B labor certification. The H-2B program also establishes certain recruitment and displacement standards in order to protect similarly employed U.S. workers. 

The Wage and Hour Division has been delegated enforcement responsibility by the Department of Homeland Security effective January 18, 2009, to ensure H-2B workers are employed in compliance with H-2B labor certification requirements. The Wage and Hour Division may impose administrative remedies such as wage payments and civil money penalties against employers who violate certain H-2B provisions.

Much more likely Trump just doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about.