McCaskill promotes new border enforcement law at Cape news conference

A new law signed by President Barack Obama last week will generate $600 million to bolster the border patrol along the boundaries of the United States and Mexico, while not adding a cent to the national deficit, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill said Wednesday.

But McCaskill, who made a stop in Cape Girardeau to tout the law's benefits to area media representatives, said that perhaps the most gratifying part for her is that it will discourage certain U.S. companies from outsourcing high-paying American jobs to foreign workers.

"The best part was hearing these companies saying they're going to have to hire more American workers," McCaskill said. "This law is a great way of paying for border security as well as providing jobs for American workers instead of foreign workers. And it was a bipartisan effort. These days, that's like winning the lottery."

The law, introduced by McCaskill and her Democratic colleague, New York's Sen. Charles Schumer, calls for the $600 million to be generated by raising fees companies pay for using foreign workers here on work visas. A number of foreign-controlled companies that operate in the U.S. rely heavily on such visas to import foreign workers rather than hire American workers, McCaskill said.

Specifically, fees will be raised for H-1B visas issued for temporary skilled workers. If more than 50 percent of a company's work force is made up of those with such visas, fees will be raised, McCaskill said.

"If 50 percent of a company's work force is on these visas, then they're going to pay a lot of money," McCaskill said."

The bill also raises fees on L visas, which allow multinational companies to transfer employees to a division, affiliate or joint venture partner in the United States. A nonimmigrant visa, the L visa allows those workers to live and work in the United States for up to seven years.

"It's a big problem in Missouri," McCaskill said. "This law is going to have an immediate impact."

While there may be a problem statewide, Mitch Robinson said he doesn't believe many Cape Girardeau County companies will be paying much -- if any -- of the fees. Robinson is the executive director of Cape Girardeau Area Magnet, an economic development organization.

"I'm in favor, personally, of more security on our borders," he said. "But I'd be surprised if we have very many companies who have workers with those types of visas."

Even the companies that jump to mind, including Germany-based Nordenia and Japanese-owned BioKyowa, use few employees here on work visas, Robinson said.

"I see it really having no significant impact on our companies here," Robinson said. "If there are any here, they're probably in management or the technical side and they're here for a couple of years and then rotated back."

The new law will provide money for additional border patrol agents as well as pay for the purchase and use of unmanned aerial vehicles -- commonly called drones -- to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border, she said.

The legislation provides for enforcement at the border in several ways, including paying to add 1,000 new border patrol agents, 250 new customs and border protection officers at points of entry and provides $10 million for investigations to fight border corruption.

The law will also generate funds to buy new communication equipment for new officers, to deploy unmanned aerial vehicle surveillance on the border and pay to set up bases along the border, opposed to using current bases that are 100 miles away.

"These measures will be used to help make our borders secure," she said. "It's either this or a fence. It's very difficult to patrol an entire fence along the entire length of the border."

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