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Two Executive Orders Issued Regarding Immigrant Workers and Federal Contractors

August 10, 2020

President Trump has issued two executive orders affecting immigrant workers. The first instructs the Department of Labor to “finalize guidance to prevent H-1B employers from moving H1B workers to other employers’ job sites to displace Americans workers.” It further targets IT jobs that involve “sensitive information [which] could pose a national security risk.” This particular piece of the executive order reflects an earlier order targeting Chinese nationals, our summary of that order can be found here.

According to the White House Fact Sheet of the order, President Trump’s actions will help “combat employers’ misuse of H-1B visas, which were never intended to replace qualified American workers with low-cost foreign labor.” The fact sheet continues that the “reforms initiated to the H-1B program to prioritize high-wage workers and close loopholes” exist to ensure American workers are not displaced by “low cost foreign labor.”

The White House further issued a separate executive order regarding Federal contractors use of immigrant labor. The order seeks to investigate Federal contractor practices so that the Department of Labor can issue future guidance.

The order seeks to investigate three things according to the text of the order:

1. whether contractors (including subcontractors)  used temporary immigrant labor for contracts performed in the United States, and, if so, the nature of the work performed by temporary foreign labor on such contracts; whether opportunities for United States workers were affected by such hiring; and any potential effects on the national security caused by such hiring
2. whether contractors (including subcontractors) used temporary immigrant labor for contracts performed in the United States,
3. whether contractors (including subcontractors) performed in foreign countries services previously performed in the United States, and, if so, whether opportunities for United States workers were affected by such offshoring;

Further, according to the order, the head of each agency that enters into contracts shall “assess any negative impact of contractors’ and subcontractors’ temporary foreign labor hiring practices or offshoring practices on the economy.”

We will continue to update our website as these orders develop and are implemented. If you or your family have any questions of concerns about how this proclamation affects your petition, please contact us here. Our staff and attorneys remain available at their normal emails and phone numbers.

TAGS: Executive Order, H-1B, Trump