The U.S. House Rules Committee on Monday advanced an amendment offered by U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) that would block any funding for the Biden administration’s proposal to charge a $600 per petition Asylum Program Fee on employers who need seasonal labor.
“This proposal by the Biden administration will hurt agriculture, tourism, and the small businesses that fuel southwest Michigan’s economy,” Rep. Huizenga said. “At the end of the day, this massive new $600 fee will result in higher prices for consumers, farmers, and small businesses which is why I introduced my amendment to stop it.”
Specifically, the committee advanced Rep. Huizenga’s amendment to the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2024, H.R. 4367, which U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH) sponsored on June 27 to provide fiscal year 2024 appropriations for DHS.
Rep. Huizenga’s amendment would block the administration’s new fee, which the congressman says would significantly raise costs on a variety of Michigan job creators across the agricultural and tourism industries who rely on seasonal labor, specifically those who utilize H-2A temporary agricultural workers, as well as H-2B temporary non-agricultural workers, according to his staff.
“Running a family farm, growing a small business, and raising a family in the current economic climate is already challenging enough,” said Rep. Huizenga. “The Biden administration should not be raising costs and billing southwest Michigan job creators to pay for the president’s failed immigration policies.”
Rep. Huizenga and a bipartisan contingent of lawmakers in May sent a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas noting that the department’s rule, proposed in January, would raise the cost of the H-2A petition fee for named workers from $460 to $1,090 and increase H-2A petition fees for unnamed workers from $460 to $530.
Additionally, the proposed rule would create a new $600 fee on various other work visas, including H-2A and H-2B, to directly finance the nation’s overburdened asylum program, they wrote.