Press Releases

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) today released the following statement after the White House announced President Trump will sign an Executive Order extending foreign worker visa restrictions, including H-2B seasonal worker and student visas, through the end of 2020:

“This Executive Order is yet another example of President Trump using the coronavirus pandemic to advance a hateful and extreme anti-immigrant agenda. A ban on student visas is not only contrary to America’s core values of supporting an open exchange of ideas and cultures, it also undermines educational opportunities for students and Maine schools which benefit from these international exchanges. There is no question that employers should hire Americans who are out of work whenever possible, but Maine businesses have said repeatedly they need H-2B, J-1, L-1 visa holders to operate and continue to reopen with a trained and skilled workforce. This ban will make Maine’s economic recovery even more difficult.”

In April, when Trump initially announced his plan to suspend immigration amid the pandemic, Pingree swiftly condemned the move as an “appalling” way of implementing hateful anti-immigrant policies. 

H-2B visas allow employers to temporarily hire foreign employees for one-time occurrences, seasonal needs, peak-load needs, or intermittent needs. Pingree has long been a supporter of increased H-2B visa allocation, cosponsoring amendments and authoring bipartisan letters, and of the J-1 program.

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