Speech #1100051115

In addition. to further deter companies from filing fraudulent applications. the legislation would double the current monetary penalties. Preventing H4lB3 fraud and abuse also requires that the Department of Labor work more closely with the Department of Homeland Securitys U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. or USCIS. which is the agency that ultimately approves an H lB visa application. To that end. this legislation requires the Director of USCIS to share with Labor information it receives from employers who file HlB visa applications. that may indicate noncompliance with the HlB visa program. USCIS has taken first steps to detect fraud in other types of visas. For example. last July USCIS completed an assessment of religiousworker benefit fraud that showed fraud in onethird of the cases surveyed. From these surveys. USCIS developed known indicators of fraud for religiousworker visas that it can now compare against incoming applications. USCIS began a similar assessment of benefit fraud for H lB visas nearly a year ago. It is not yet completed. despite repeated inquiries by my staff on its status. This legislation requires completion of the HlB3 fraud assessment within 30 days. so that USOIS can begin using this valuable tool to uncover fraud in other HlB3 applications. This legislation fills gaps in our ability to ensure that H1 lB visas are granted and used in the manner Congress intended. I urge my colleagues to support this proposal as we consider immigrationreform legislation. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.