Senator John Curtis (R-UT) introduced a bill that allows states to operate their own migrant worker visa programs.
“Utah employers tell me time and again how difficult it’s become to find enough workers to meet growing demands,” Curtis wrote on social media. “Our bill allows states to sponsor visas tailored to their unique workforce needs, while ensuring rigorous federal vetting and accountability.”
The legislation, introduced alongside Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), enables the federal government to maintain its authority over “security screening, visa issuance, and immigration enforcement.” Applicants for the programs must “pass comprehensive federal background and security checks before receiving a visa.”
The bill specifically seeks to “amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for a State-sponsored nonimmigrant pilot program,” it says. The text would be “an alien who is sponsored by a State and is coming temporarily to the United States to reside in such State to perform services, provide capital investment, direct the operations of an enterprise, or otherwise contribute to the economic development agenda of such State in a manner determined by the State.”
The legislation is the latest push from Republicans to expand visa programs.
Earlier this year, Republican New York Rep. Mike Lawler defended the Dignity Act, claiming the bill is “common sense.”
“If you’ve been here more than five years — so not the people who came under Joe Biden’s disastrous administration, but the people who have been in this country 5, 10, 15, 20 years, whose children and grandchildren may in fact be American citizens — they would qualify if they haven’t committed a crime, they paid back taxes, they pay a fine, they have a job, and they do not collect government benefits,” he said of the bill introduced by Republican Rep. Maria Salazar (FL). “They would qualify for legal status, not citizenship; they would be precluded from citizenship.”
