We are a nation of citizens. Citizenship unites us and can strengthen our unions.
Immigration Reform
LIUNA was founded more than a century ago by proud immigrants and we continue to work for fair treatment of immigrant workers in this nation. LIUNA will continue to fight for comprehensive immigration reform and will not stop until it gets done.
Temporary Protected Status and DACA
LIUNA supports continuation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which temporarily defers deportation for approximately 1.9 million eligible undocumented youth known as Dreamers. Dreamers came to the U.S. and made their lives here, and they and their families deserve a path to citizenship. LIUNA also supports legislation to allow workers covered by the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program to have a path to citizenship. During the Trump Administration, TPS was terminated for El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and other nations. About thirty percent of TPS holders work in the construction industry. They build America every day and deserve a path to citizenship.
LIUNA urges the full Congress to pass legislation to support Dreamers and help TPS recipients. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed H.R. 6, the Dream and Promise Act which will help Dreamers and TPS recipients. There are two bills pending in the Senate: S. 306 the SECURE Act (TPS) and the Dream Act, S. 264 (Dreamers).
Guest Worker Programs
The H-2B guest worker visa program allows employers to hire guest workers to fill temporary “seasonal” jobs. Construction and landscaping are two of the top industries employers use to hire H-2B workers. Many contractors that use H-2B visas falsely contend that they are unable to fill vacancies because U.S. workers are unwilling to do these jobs. In reality, employers often turn to the H-2B program to avoid paying U.S. workers fair wages, by using guest workers who they can exploit.
The H-2A agricultural visa program is also being misused to hire construction and landscape workers from other nations to come to the U.S. even though that visa program is not supposed to be used for construction workers. LIUNA’s advocacy recently succeeded in securing new rules that will prevent employers from bypassing local workers to use H-2A visa to hire construction workers