← Back to Category — immigration & Worker Rights
Immigration Deregulation Reform
AKA “Stop Corporate Abuse of Guest Worker Programs”
Which agency/agencies promulgated the regulation? *
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
Department of Labor (DOL)
Department of State (DOS)
Targeted rescission and revision of regulations that grant excessive influence to industry actors over temporary visa programs:
8 CFR §214.2(h) — Governs H-1B and H-2B visas, including employer petition processes that prioritize speed over oversight.
20 CFR Part 655 Subparts A & B — Outline labor certification procedures that defer heavily to employer-submitted wage and market data.
22 CFR §41.53 — Covers blanket L visa applications, which allow multinationals to transfer workers with minimal scrutiny.
—OPTIONAL--
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
Privatized Petition-Driven Visa Oversight Framework
Current visa programs outsource key immigration gatekeeping functions to private companies, allowing employers to shape eligibility, suppress wages, and displace domestic workers. These systems rely on employer attestations with limited verification, undermining both immigration integrity and labor protections.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
20 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20529
USCIS: public.engagement@uscis.dhs.gov
DOL: eta.regs@dol.gov
DOS: visas@state.gov
Visa programs like H-1B, H-2B, and L-1 were originally designed to meet genuine labor shortages. But over time, rulemaking has prioritized employer convenience over public interest. Petition-driven models allow companies to act as gatekeepers, setting prevailing wages, claiming exemptions, and triggering visa caps through opaque lotteries or volume-based mechanisms. This structure disempowers workers—both immigrant and domestic—and enables exploitative labor practices.
Labor certification and visa eligibility should be governed by public interest, not employer demand signals alone. Current systems grant multinationals, staffing firms, and outsourcing agencies too much influence over immigration flows. Rolling back these rules would restore regulatory oversight, protect workers from wage suppression, and ensure that employment-based visas serve as a complement—not a substitute—for fair domestic hiring.
Revised provisions shall:
Shift from employer-driven petitions to independently verified labor need assessments (DOL-administered)
Strengthen wage floor and anti-substitution rules in H-1B and H-2B programs (§214.2(h), 20 CFR Part 655)
Require individual L visa applications with third-party review in place of automatic blanket certifications (§41.53)
Kristi Noem
Secretary of Homeland Security