Invisible Hands: Forced Labor in the United States and the H-2 Temporary Worker Visa Program.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of workers enter the United States on H-2 temporary worker visas for low-wage, seasonal employment. These workers are each legally tied to their U.S. employer in industries largely outside of public view, such as agriculture, food processing, construction, landscaping, amusement, and forestry. Although H-2 visa workers are integral to the U.S. economy, exploitation against them and systemic violations of their legal rights are rampant. Little scholarship has examined the working conditions that H-2 visa workers face through the lens of the international prohibition of forced labor. This Comment establishes that the conditions H-2 visa workers toil under in the United States may rise to the level of forced labor as defined under international law through a comprehensive review of reports regarding the H-2 visa program, a survey of international laws pertinent to the international prohibition of forced labor, and the use of a case study. The United States, through international conventions and customary international law, is obligated to ensure that all workers in the United States are not subjected to forced labor. This Comment then utilizes the human rights paradigm of prevention, protection, and accountability to analyze what changes the United States should make to the H-2 visa program to comply with this international obligation and to discuss some advocacy avenues currently available under domestic and international law to challenge forced labor in the H-2 visa program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]