FOREIGN LABOR RECRUITERS

PREVENTING HUMAN TRAFFICKING BY REGULATING FOREIGN LABOR RECRUITERS

The Problem

Workers who enter the United States through temporary visa programs are historically and pervasively vulnerable to fraud, abuse, and human trafficking due to deceptive recruitment practices and illegal schemes carried out by foreign labor recruiters. With limited federal oversight of these programs, and with temporary visa programs expanding rapidly in recent years, many workers arrive in California without adequate protections at the point of recruitment.

Although California enacted protections for workers recruited by Foreign Labor Recruiters (FLRs) in 2014 under SB 477, gaps in interpretation and enforcement mean that the law currently applies only to H-2B visa holders. As a result, the vast majority of temporary immigrant workers remain unprotected, even as demand for temporary labor grows across industries such as agriculture, construction, caregiving, engineering, and technology.

Our Goal

Our goal is to strengthen California law to ensure that all temporary visa holders working in the state are protected from labor trafficking and recruitment abuse. Through our advocacy, we support AB 1362 to clarify existing law and extend the statutory framework governing Foreign Labor Recruiters to cover all temporary immigrant workers in California, closing loopholes that allow exploitation to continue.

The Impact

Due to misinterpretation, current law under SB 477 regulates only H-2B visas, covering less than three percent of the approximately 350,000 temporary immigrant workers who come to California each year. AB 1362 would correct this gap by expanding existing protections to all temporary visa workers, using the same framework already in place for H-2B workers.

By strengthening recruitment oversight and transparency, AB 1362 would:

• Protect workers across multiple industries from trafficking and exploitation
• Prevent fraud and abuse at the recruitment stage, before harm occurs
• Create consistent standards for recruiters operating in California
• Position California as a national leader in protecting immigrant workers where federal protections have failed

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