"All You Americans Are Fired": The Controversial H-2B Guestworker Program

Parsing Immigration Policy, Episode 3

By Mark Krikorian and Jessica M. Vaughan on May 13, 2021

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Listen to ""All You Americans Are Fired": The Controversial H-2B Guestworker Program" on Spreaker.

Summary

The Biden administration recently increased the H-2B visa cap, allowing more low-skilled, non-agricultural seasonal workers into the country to compete with American workers and to be exploited by employers. Jessica Vaughan, the Center’s director of policy studies, discusses this guestworker visa program, which creates the false impression of "jobs Americans won't do" by incentivizing employers to use a business model that is reliant on temporary worker programs instead of reaching out to American workers. Vaughan also offers recommendations to improve this controversial immigration program.

Mark Krikorian, the Center’s executive director and host of the podcast, wraps up this episode of Parsing Immigration Policy with an assessment of the Biden administration’s plans for handling the border crisis, as laid out in his recent article in RealClearPolicy.

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Host

Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Guest

Jessica Vaughan is director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies

Podcast

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Show Notes

Voices in the opening montage:

  • Sen. Barack Obama at a 2005 press conference.
  • Sen. John McCain in a 2010 election ad.
  • President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the 1965 Immigration Act.
  • Booker T. Washington, reading in 1908 from his 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech.
  • Laraine Newman as a "Conehead" on SNL in 1977.
  • Hillary Clinton in a 2003 radio interview.
  • Cesar Chavez in a 1974 interview.
  • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking to reporters in 2019.
  • Prof. George Borjas in a 2016 C-SPAN appearance.
  • Sen. Jeff Sessions in 2008 comments on the Senate floor.
  • Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes".