Today, Senators Richard Durbin and Chuck Grassley introduced the H-1B and L -1 Visa Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act of 2007, important bipartisan legislation that will improve wages and workplace standards for workers in high skilled industries and elevate the issue of workers’ rights within the immigration reform debate.

This measure makes important progress in combating fraud and abuse within the existing H-1B and L-1 temporary worker visa programs. These programs allow foreign guest workers to enter the country to fill spot labor shortages in high skilled areas. Unfortunately under current law, employers, especially in the high tech industry, are abusing these temporary visa programs by exploiting workers, driving down standards and often facilitating the displacement of domestic workers and the outsourcing of jobs. This hurts all workers and gives these employers a perverse competitive advantage.

The H-1B and L-1 Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act will significantly enhance labor protections within these temporary visa programs by:

• Enhancing US worker recruitment and non-displacement requirements; 
• Improving wage standards; 
• Strengthening the Department of Labor’s (DOL) ability to prevent obvious fraud and misrepresentation on employer applications;
• Preserving standards by enhancing the DOL’s audit authority.

Employer abuse of these high skilled guest worker programs is unacceptable, whether through  displacement and unfair treatment of domestic workers,  intimidation of guest workers or artificial depression of their wages and working conditions below the standards of the domestic labor market. Congress created these programs and now it must reform them so America’s workers are not disadvantaged and foreign workers are protected from exploitation. The AFL-CIO has long fought to reform existing guest worker programs to address the rampant worker abuse and condemned them as a model for comprehensive immigration reform.

Contact: Esmeralda Aguilar (202) 637-5018