Nelson Seeks Comprehensive Probe of Foreign Worker Visas, Outsourcing Businesses

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) is asking the federal Labor Department to expand an investigation into potential abuses in the visa program designed to attract highly-skilled foreign workers to fill U.S. jobs in fields where there are labor shortages, following recent media reports calling into question whether companies are using it to displace American workers.

Nelson made his request in a letter sent today to Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez. The letter cited a recent broadcast report that another company in Florida called Catalina Marketing in St. Petersburg was transitioning 50 employees for replacement through an outsourcing firm called Mindtree with headquarters in India and New Jersey.

Earlier this month, the Florida lawmaker initially asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to look into potential abuses in the same visa program after a New York Times report that an India-based outsourcing firm used by Disney World was placing immigrants in jobs previously filled by Americans.

Shortly after Nelson's request, his office received a couple of letters from Floridians concerned about Catalina and Mindtree.

And a few days later, Labor announced it would investigate a similar inquiry about outsourcing made by ten of Nelson's Senate colleagues. Homeland Security then told Nelson it would work jointly with Labor on the probe he sought.

Several outsourcing firms are now under scrutiny by Labor because a group of ten senators, led by Sens. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL), brought reports of potential abuses to the agency's attention in a letter in April.

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