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Congressman Pappas’s Statement On Trump Administration Order Impacting New Hampshire Seasonal Businesses

June 26, 2020

Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) released the following statement in response to President Trump's order to temporarily bar foreign workers on a slate of employment-based visas, including temporary nonagricultural worker visas (H-2B), from coming to the United States:

"Seasonal small businesses are a critical part of New Hampshire's economy, and they rely on temporary workers to alleviate workforce shortages and keep their doors open," said Congressman Chris Pappas. "While common sense precautions must be taken to stop the spread of COVID-19, I urge the administration to employ a public health driven approach that won't unduly burden small businesses that have invested significant capital in and planned for these worker visas. Using a global pandemic and economic crisis as a pretext to broadly limit immigration to this country at the expense of our New Hampshire small businesses is troubling and irresponsible. I have repeatedly called for temporary worker programs to be reformed to provide more certainty and stability to businesses, and I will continue to do just that so Granite State businesses have the support they need."

The restrictions are set to take effect on June 24th and will last through the end of the year. As a result, small businesses across New Hampshire and the country who rely on these employment-based visas to work in industries ranging from tech and consulting to landscaping and seasonal jobs at resorts will have their workforce barred from entering the United States.

In March, Congressman Pappas commended the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) announcement that it would make available 35,000 supplemental temporary nonagricultural worker visas (H-2B) for the second half of fiscal year 2020, while underscoring the need for additional visas to be released and calling on Congress to fix our broken immigration system in order to meet the workforce needs of Granite State employers.

Since taking office, Congressman Pappas has been a leader on advocating for New Hampshire's seasonal businesses and for reforming the temporary worker visa process. Earlier this year, Congressman Chris Pappas met with local business owners in Conway to hear directly from them about the need to make additional H-2B visas available.

Additional actions Congressman Pappas has taken on this issue:

  • On January 15, 2019, Pappas signed a letter to the House leadership asking for permanent, meaningful H-2B cap relief in any budget agreement.
  • On March 5, 2019, Pappas signed a letter to then-DHS Secretary Nielsen asking her to release additional H-2B visas without delay.
  • On May 31, 2019, Pappas signed a letter to the Appropriations Committee requesting meaningful visa cap relief.
  • On November 12, 2019, Pappas signed a letter to House leadership asking for the release of 64,716 additional H-2B visas in the year end appropriations package.
  • On January 27, 2020, Pappas signed a letter to Acting DHS Director Wolf, asking him to release all available visas.