April 7, 2022
Julie Su
Deputy Secretary of Labor
U.S. Department of Labor
Sent via email
RE: Ending Sex Discrimination in the H-2 Program and Ensuring Access to Justice for H-2 Workers
Dear Deputy Secretary Su:
I write to thank you for meeting with my colleague, Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. (CDM) Outreach, Education, and Leadership Development Director Jocelyn Abigail Reyes Moctezuma and allied organizations in Mexico City this week to speak about women workers’ rights and urge you to continue this critical conversation. As labor migration programs continue to expand rapidly without a corresponding increase in labor protections for workers, we hope your agency will promptly implement your promises to workers’ rights advocates. I invite you to meet with CDM and hear directly from migrant worker women in May 2022. Our goals are to concretely address rampant sex discrimination and gender-based violence in the H-2 temporary worker programs and resolve our USMCA Complaint.
I was grateful to hear that you spoke about the Department of Labor’s commitments to listening to the voices of women workers and leaders while advancing equity and labor justice for workers, enforcing labor laws, and prioritizing Department resources for protecting the most vulnerable workers. Given the systemic discrimination women confront in the H-2 temporary worker programs, including barriers to accessing justice, CDM has urged the Department to prioritize these issues as the Administration expands the flawed H-2 programs.
Having long admired your advocacy and leadership on behalf of low-wage workers, I appreciate that you share our deep concern about migrant worker women’s particular vulnerabilities in the H-2 programs. Thank you and your colleagues for your work to protect workers’ rights, and I urge you to promptly and meaningfully respond to migrant worker women’s urgent demands. Thank you in advance for contacting me at rachel@cdmigrante.org so that we can arrange a time to meet in May.
Thank you very much.
Warmly,
Rachel Micah-Jones
CC: Samantha Tate, U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs