(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Outgoing DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is expanding temporary worker visas for Fiscal Year 2025 by more than 60,000, despite only having two months left in office.
Mayorkas announced Friday that DHS, with the help of the Department of Labor, will make an additional 64,716 H-2B visas available. This is in addition to the 66,000 visas already allocated by Congress.
Of the new visas, 20,000 will be reserved for workers from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador or Costa Rica. The rest, 44,716, will be allocated to workers who previously held H-2B status within the past three fiscal years
Mayorkas claimed the move is part of the agency’s broader commitment to supporting the economy. These visas, which cover industries like hospitality, tourism, and landscaping, allow companies to recruit foreign nationals for jobs too few Americans are willing or able to take, DHS wrote.
“By maximizing the use of the H-2B visa program, the Department of Homeland Security is helping to ensure the labor needs of American businesses are met, keeping prices down for consumers while strengthening worker protections and deterring irregular migration to the United States,” Mayorkas said.
The expansion was flagged first via X by Mike Howell, a columnist and director of The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project. “Mayorkas [is] massively increasing visa caps on his way out,” Howell wrote.
Mayorkas massively increasing visa caps on his way out pic.twitter.com/UOp58Nu3YE
— Mike Howell (@MHowellTweets) November 15, 2024
The visa extension could be undone by the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump. The rule applies to Fiscal Year 2025, which extends into mid-2025—months after Trump will take office following his 2024 landslide victory.
Trump has already announced plans to nominate South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as Mayorkas’s replacement. The House of Representatives impeached Mayorkas over his open border policies, making him the first cabinet official to face such a rebuke since 1876.
I am honored and humbled that President Donald J. Trump has selected me to be the Secretary of Homeland Security. I look forward to working with Border Czar Tom Homan to make America SAFE again.
With Donald Trump, we will secure the border and restore safety to American… https://t.co/uMWCwy5ukb
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) November 13, 2024
In his final year in office, Trump signed an executive order freezing new visas for foreign workers, arguing that preserving American jobs was needed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
