The failure of Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform has created a very specific problem for Colorado’s ski resorts.
It’s possible they won’t be able to hire enough foreign workers on H-2B visas to fill seasonal jobs.
That’s because an exemption to the visa program that allowed a greater flow of workers expired Sept. 30. Immigration reform efforts, which collapsed last summer, had included revisions that would ease restrictions on such workers.
It’s a serious issue for Colorado, which is one of the nation’s largest employers of H-2B workers.
It is appropriate, we think, for federal lawmakers to reinstate a measure that allowed foreign workers who came to the U.S. on H-2B visas during the last three years to return for another season without being counted against the 66,000 annual cap.
Several attempts to address the issue in Congress have failed. At the same time, the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement has made workplace enforcement a priority, cracking down on businesses that hire illegal immigrants.
Demand for H-2B workers has been growing in the last several years. Along with ski resorts, hotels and landscaping businesses have depended on this program to fill jobs.
Colorado isn’t the only state that depends upon them for seasonal workers in a myriad of non-agricultural jobs. Texas employs the most H-2B workers, but industries as diverse as Maryland’s seafood businesses and Missouri’s landscapers depend upon them as well.
Various bills that would offer some relief on the caps are pending in Congress. They would reauthorize or extend the “returning worker” provision for 2008.
We hope lawmakers are able to find enough common ground to take up the issue and ease restrictions on the caps. It’s important to give businesses the ability to legally employ these workers.
