The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security entered into an agreement Friday aimed at stopping U.S. companies from favoring foreign workers with visas over U.S. workers, according to documents first obtained by the Washington Examiner.
Justice and Homeland Security officials hope the tighter union, made official Friday through a memorandum of understanding, leads to quicker detection of U.S. employers who discriminate against U.S. workers, as well as quicker punishment for immigrants who abuse or commit fraud in the process.
Hiring “temporary foreign visa workers over available, qualified U.S. workers may be discriminating in violation” of U.S. law, documents detailing the joint agreement stated. The agreement is between the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
“In the spirit of President Trump’s Executive Order on Buy American and Hire American, today’s partnership adds to the Civil Rights Division’s tools to stop employers from discriminating against U.S. workers by favoring foreign visa workers,” acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “The Division looks forward to expanding its partnerships with USCIS to hold accountable employers that discriminate against U.S. workers based on their citizenship status.”
Last year, the Civil Rights Division started the Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative to ensure U.S. workers were not being passed over by companies seeking to outsource work or import foreign laborers who would work for lower wages.
The initiative was born out of Trump’s Buy American and Hire American Executive Order and has led to dozens of investigations, one lawsuit, and two settlement agreements with two employers found to be in violation.
After processing employment-based applications, USCIS will begin turning over relevant information to DOJ’s civil rights team for further investigation.
“This agreement enhances the level of coordination among investigators who often work on the same issues at different agencies. Breaking down silos and working with our federal partners to combat employment discrimination will help ensure that U.S. workers have the advocate they need at the highest level,” USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna said in a statement.
USCIS and the Civil Rights division first partnered in a similar style in 2010 on issues related to the misuse of E-Verify.
