Advocates say exchange program needs more changes

Published July 10, 2012 5:29pm ET



JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The State Department should add housekeepers to a list of prohibited jobs for foreign college students who spend their summers in the United States as part of cultural exchange program that has left participants vulnerable to exploitation, an advocacy group said Tuesday.

The State Department announced major changes to the J-1 Summer Work and Travel Program in May and expanded a list of jobs that students should not be allowed to work. It was the latest in a series of steps to fix the program since The Associated Press reported in 2010 that abuses included participants working in strip clubs or living and working in conditions they compared to indentured servitude.

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