June 4, 2021 — U.S. sanctions filed last week against a Chinese distant-water fishing firm for alleged forced labor abuses amount to “American slander,” according to a Chinese state media outlet.
The China Youth Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party Youth League, has sought to link the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s sanctioning of the Dalian Ocean Fishing Co. to other Western claims of human rights abuses as part of a coordinated effort to “tarnish” China.
April 29, 2021 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK):
U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski, Dan Sullivan, and Rep. Don Young issued the following statement after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the department is making available 22,000 temporary, non-agriculture worker visas through the H-2B visa program:
“The H-2B visa program is crucial to on-shore fish processors in Alaska and to our national seafood supply. The COVID-19 pandemic has created incredible hardships for American businesses across the nation, and Alaska’s seafood industry was not immune to that strain. It is important for the industry to have the workers it needs as it heads into the critical summer seafood season. These temporary, non-immigrant visas are fundamental to filling vacant jobs left unfilled by American labor, enabling seafood industries to hire seasonal workers and to continue operations. Local seafood businesses continue to tell us they need H-2B workers to harvest and process their respective seafood products despite regular and robust recruitment efforts here in the United States. We appreciate the administration’s announcement, which reaffirms its support of American businesses, but we are running out of time in Alaska. Processors must be ready and able to keep pace with the salmon run and their independent fishermen to provide our nation’s supply of sustainable, wild-caught Alaska salmon. Bristol Bay, for example, is famous for its abundant, short fishing season in June and July. With the summer fishing season nearly upon us we urge the DHS to finalize and issue these visas as soon as possible. Every passing day counts.”
April 21, 2021 — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday, 20 April announced that it would make another 22,000 H-2B visas available for businesses, such as seafood processors, that rely on seasonal laborers.
In a statement, the federal agency said feedback from businesses that rely on the visa program to staff summer operations led to the expansion. DHS said many of those businesses were unable to hire American workers to fill critical positions.
February 19, 2021 — The following was released by the Better Seafood Board:
The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York has charged four men for their part in an alleged plot to import mislabeled fish into the United States. The defendants were arrested yesterday and will appear before a judge today.
“This is a great example of agencies focusing enforcement efforts on fish fraud and having an impact,” said John Petrizzo Director of Operations for Harbor Seafood, Inc. and Chair of the Better Seafood Board. “Here we see the United States Attorney, Department of Homeland Security, NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement and USDA’s Inspector General all working together to investigate and prosecute these suspects. Dedicating those kinds of resources to a fish fraud case sends a loud and clear message.”
Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent-in-Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh called the suspects part of a “transnational criminal organization.” The scheme allegedly involved bringing mislabeled fish in from Myanmar and Bangladesh for sale through a company called Asia Foods Distributor Inc. The criminal complaint shows law enforcement tracking mislabeled shipments as far back as 2018. Investigators describe the alleged crime as a “very lucrative scheme.”
“We don’t need new laws or more regulations, we need enforcement and that’s what we are seeing today from these federal agencies,” said Petrizzo. “Hats off to them and their efforts to stamp out fish fraud.”
January 4, 2021 — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a withhold release order against a Taiwanese tuna trawler, saying it has received credible information that the vessel was involved in the use of forced labor.
The agency, a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, on 31 December ordered its personnel at all U.S. ports of entry to detain tuna and other seafood harvested by the Lien Yi Hsing No. 12, a Taiwanese-flagged and -owned distant-water fishing vessel. The agency said its investigation concluded the Lie Yi Hsing 12’s operators had used deceptive hiring practices, withholding of wages, and debt bondage in staffing the vessel. In a press release, the CBP said it will provide the owner of the vessels the opportunity to demonstrate its merchandise was not produced with forced labor, or to export any of their shipments that have been detained to a third country.
July 24, 2020 — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was joined by three industry groups and a technology company in a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and State Department regarding the actions of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to curb foreign workers from entering the country, primarily via the H-1B visa program.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, 21 July, in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, California, comes a month after Trump announced he was temporarily suspending several work visa programs as high unemployment rates due to the coronavirus pandemic left millions of Americans out of work.
May 29, 2020 — Groups of Republicans in both the U.S. House and Senate wrote to U.S. President Donald Trump this week urging his administration to exclude temporary visa programs, such as the H-2B visas, from efforts to curb immigration.
The letters, reported by Law360.com and TheHill.com, come a couple weeks after the Department of Homeland Security announced it would not bump up the total of H-2B visas, which permit nonimmigrant laborers to work in seasonal positions. Seafood processors, along with landscaping companies and seasonal resorts, are the primary industries that use the visa program.
May 13, 2020 — The following was released by the Department of Homeland Security:
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced a temporary final rule to change certain H-2B requirements to help support the U.S. food supply chain, maintain essential infrastructure operations and reduce the impact from the coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency.
These temporary measures apply solely to aliens already present in the United States with a valid H-2B nonimmigrant status, and the temporary final rule does not increase H-2B visas above the congressionally mandated 66,000 visa cap through the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2020.
“These necessary flexibilities will safeguard a critical U.S. infrastructure sector; reinforce security of the nation’s food supply chain; and encourage key American businesses to maintain essential operations currently threatened by the COVID-19 public health emergency,” said USCIS Deputy Director for Policy, Joseph Edlow. “Importantly, these measures protect U.S. workers by not adding supplemental H-2B visas during the national emergency.”
Under this temporary final rule, a petitioner will have additional flexibilities for employing workers essential to the U.S. food supply chain. To take advantage of this time-limited change in regulatory requirements, the H-2B worker must already be in the United States and in valid H2B status.
As part of the TLC process, the petitioning employer must have demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Labor that there is not a sufficient supply of qualified U.S. workers who will be available at the time and place needed to perform the labor or services involved in the petition. The employment of the alien(s) in such labor or services will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States similarly employed.
There are two flexibilities in the temporary final rule. First, the rule allows an H-2B employer to employ an H-2B nonimmigrant physically present in the United States while the employer’s H-2B petition on behalf of that nonimmigrant is still pending before USCIS. The rule only provides this flexibility if the employer attests that the worker will perform temporary services or labor that is essential to the U.S. food supply chain. The temporary employment authorization will last for up to 60 days. Second, the rule allows H-2B workers essential to the U.S. food supply chain to stay beyond the three-year maximum allowable period of stay in the United States. This flexibility applies to petitions filed by the H-2B nonimmigrant’s current employer, as well as petitions filed by a potential new employer. The rule only provides this flexibility if the employer attests that the worker will perform temporary services or labor that is essential to the U.S. food supply chain. It is not acceptable for employers to hire illegal aliens.
A petitioner seeking the flexibilities under this temporary final rule will be required to submit an attestation, swearing under penalty of perjury, that the H-2B worker(s) will be performing temporary nonagricultural services or labor or that is essential to the U.S. food supply chain.
The temporary final rule is effective immediately upon publication in the Federal Register.
DHS previously announced similar protections for American agricultural employers in order to secure the nation’s food supply chain. The H-2B nonimmigrant classification applies to alien workers seeking to perform nonagricultural services or labor of a temporary nature in the United States, usually lasting no longer than one year, for which able, willing and qualified U.S. workers are not available.
May 13, 2020 — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has announced that it will not increase the cap on H-2B visas for the 2020 fiscal year, but the agency is implementing a new rule it said will give food processors more flexibility to help them during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The rule, scheduled to be published Thursday, 14 May, will allow companies to hire current visa holders already in the country for work, according to a statement posted on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services site.
February 25, 2020 — The U.S. seafood industry is on the verge of getting some good news as the Wall Street Journal has reported that the Department of Homeland Security plans to authorize an additional 45,000 H-2B visas.
H-2B visa allow non-agricultural businesses to fill seasonal jobs with immigrant labor. The program is vital for seafood processors, who claim they cannot find enough domestic workers to handle their needs.