特朗普放松对外籍劳工的限制

The Trump administration will let US companies hire more foreign workers as they struggle to find Americans to work in hotels, restaurants and other seasonal jobs.

特朗普政府将允许美国企业雇佣更多外籍员工，原因是这些企业难以找到美国人来填补酒店、餐厅和其他季节性工作岗位空缺。

John Kelly, secretary of homeland security, yesterday announced the decision to increase the number of H-2B visas — permits for seasonal workers in non-agricultural sectors — to 81,000, a rise of 15,000 from a congressional annual cap of 66,000.

国土安全部长约翰•凯利(John Kelly)昨日宣布了把H-2B签证的年度签发数量提高到8.1万的决定，这比国会制定的每年6.6万的上限高出1.5万。这种签证面向从事非农业季节性工作的外国劳工。

“Congress gave me the discretionary authority to provide temporary relief to American businesses at risk of significant harm due to a lack of available seasonal workers,” Mr Kelly said.

“国会给了我酌情裁量权，为那些可能因缺乏季节性劳工而蒙受重大损失的美国企业提供暂时救济，”凯利说。

The retired general added that the administration was allowing a “one-time increase” to show its “commitment to supporting American businesses”. To qualify for the visas, companies must certify that they would suffer “irreparable harm” unless they can hire more foreign workers for seasonal jobs.

这位退役将军补充道，特朗普政府批准“一次性增加”签证数量来表明其“支持美国企业的承诺”。要申请这类签证，企业必须证明：除非它们能够雇佣更多外国人来从事季节性工作，否则它们将遭受“无法挽回的损失”。

While President Donald Trump campaigned on a series of tough immigration policies, he came under pressure during the race after it emerged that his properties used H-2B visas. “It’s very, very hard to get people,” Mr Trump said during one of the presidential debates.

尽管唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)在竞选时提出一系列严厉的移民政策，但在他名下的物业被曝利用H-2B签证后，他曾在竞选期间蒙受压力。“很难、很难招到人，”特朗普在其中一次总统候选人辩论时表示。

Dave Lapan, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said his agency did not know if the Trump Organization would take advantage of the increased cap to hire more seasonal workers at businesses such as Mar-a-Lago, the president’s Florida resort which has been dubbed the Winter White House.

国土安全部发言人戴夫•拉潘(Dave Lapan)表示，该部不知道特朗普集团(Trump Organization)是否会利用H-2B签证上限提高，在海湖庄园(Mar-a-Lago，见文首照片)等企业雇佣更多季节性员工。后者是美国总统名下在佛罗里达的度假村，有“冬季白宫”之称。

The move to allow more H-2B visas comes as the administration considers changes to the H-1B visa system that brings highly-skilled foreign workers to the US.

允许签发更多H-2B签证之际，特朗普政府正考虑修改引进高技能外籍员工的H-1B签证制度。