White House Increases Temporary Work Visa; Proposes Keeping Immigration Flat

The Federal Register, as of this morning, officially includes a Department of Homeland Security notice that the number of seasonal nonfarm visas (H-2Bs) for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 will increase from 66,000 to 96,000, the highest total in a dozen years. {snip}

The increase comes after administration officials Tuesday briefed a group of Republican senators on the long-awaited comprehensive immigration reform package spearheaded by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor. {snip}

It has not escaped restrictionists’ attention that the administration’s words and deeds regarding low-skilled visas are at tension. {snip}

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“It’s not clear for them how it’s a winning strategy to have their own side divided and the other side unified.”

Trump, characteristically, has been all over the map on the issue, including his ad-libbed and non-believable claim in this year’s State of the Union Address that he wants legal immigrants to come in “the largest numbers ever.”

The president has reportedly signed off on Kushner’s plan, but previous legislative go-rounds have demonstrated that POTUS is not the most consistently reliable actor.

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