TAMPA, Fla. — The U.S Department of Labor recently announced new actions to help protect migrant workers in the U.S.. This comes after the department says there have been a rise in reports of worker exploitation, adding that many workers do not know what their rights are when it comes to this topic.

What You Need To Know

  • U.S Department of Labor announces new actions to protect migrant, U.S. workers

  • This announcement comes after reports of worker exploitation

  • Ana Lamb is a community advocate for the Wimauma/Ruskin area and is positive about the changes and the impact it will have in her community

  • Jake Hoffman, executive director for the Tampa Bay Young Republicans, says he's unsure these changes will do anything and believes the changes should start higher up

With the need to hire more H-2B workers, the Department of Labor wants to make sure those who seek work are also safe.

Those changes would include helping to reduce worker vulnerability to exploitation from labor recruiters, empowering workers to develop resources to help with understanding their rights, and helping to improve outreach and streamline responses to labor violations amongst the few.

Ana Lamb, a community advocate for the Wimauma/Ruskin area since 2001, is positive about the changes and the impact it will have in her community.

“We did the know your rights session here in Wimauma so all these people were farmworkers during the year 2016,” she said. “The Department of Labor knows that this is real and they want people to come to them and say this is a problem, they want to show the problem that is so difficult sometimes to get out."

Although these changes will benefit some, Jake Hoffman with the Tampa Bay Young Republicans is skeptical.

“Nobody wants to see workers being taking advantage of, but at the same time if they cared about the livelihood of foreigners coming into this country then they would do something about the southern border," he said. "They would do something about the process to get amnesty and things of that nature.” 

Hoffman said, as someone who’s been heavily involved in politics for several years, he feels this announcement by the labor department won’t do much. 

However, for others like Lamb, this means they are being heard.

“It is important for the community to understand that when the Department of Labor a federal agency is coming and saying we will do this to give our support, because we have been asking for help for so long, and now that they are willing to do it we need to support,” she said.

Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security announced the addition of more than 60,000 visas for 2023 alone.

Now more than a dozen changes were made to help strengthen migrant worker protections.