In the latest debacle for the J-1 Summer Work Travel visa, a federal indictment unsealed last week accuses the mafia of using the cultural exchange program to bring Eastern European women to work in New York strip clubs.
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee's immigration subcommittee also has been gathering information on the J-1 visa, which was created in 1963 to allow college students from other countries to spend their summer breaks living, working and traveling in the U.S.
As the program has grown to bring more than 100,000 young people here annually, it has become as much about money as cultural understanding.
The State Department has made several changes since an Associated Press investigation last year uncovered widespread abuses, including living and working conditions that some participants compared to indentured servitude.
In one of the worst cases, a woman told the AP she was beaten, raped and forced to work as a stripper in Detroit after being promised a job as a waitress in Virginia.
More common than sex trade abuses is shabby housing, scarce work hours and paltry pay. In August, dozens of workers protested conditions at a candy factory that packs Hershey chocolates in Hershey, Pennsylvania, complaining of hard physical labor and pay deductions for rent that often left them with little money.
A State Department spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Clinton ``has called for an extensive and thorough review of the program.''
``We continue to be committed to working to strengthen the Summer Work Travel Program to safeguard the health and welfare of the participants,'' the official said in an email late Friday. ``We have already instituted one set of reforms and are working toward additional ones that take additional measures to protect participants and prioritize the original cultural intent of the program.''
The New York case was made public just days after the State Department opened a period of public comment on proposed changes that would require companies that sponsor the participants to gather more information about employment and living arrangements.
It's not clear if the proposed changes would have prevented the situation in New York, in which authorities say fraudulent offers for jobs as waitresses were used to help Eastern European women get visas to come to the U.S. Instead of working in restaurants, they allegedly danced in strip clubs. Authorities say members of the Gambino and Bonnano crime families were involved, along with the Russian mob.
The reforms being considered by the State Department would limit and refine the types of jobs students can have, expand the list of prohibited employment categories, and strengthen the ``the cultural aspects of the program to ensure that the objective of the program _ positive exposure to the United States _ is accomplished.''
The agency already prohibits participants from taking jobs ``that might bring the Department of State into notoriety or disrepute'' but the AP found that strip clubs and adult entertainment companies openly solicited J-1 workers.
Most of the abuses in the J-1 program over the years have been blamed on unregulated, third-party labor brokers who work with the students. Critics say the students have gotten little help from companies designated as sponsors by the State Department.
The State Department said in November that it has temporarily stopped accepting any new sponsors and will limit the number of future participants to this year's level, or about 103,000 students. The State Department also revised its rules to require more oversight by its 53 designated sponsors, which help students arrange for visas and find jobs and housing in return for a fee.
``Foreign exchange student abuse continues due to lack of oversight by State and the unadulterated greed of the exchange sponsors,'' according to Danielle Grijalva, director of the Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students, an advocacy group. Grijalva called on the State Department to enact a strict moratorium and impose sanctions for sponsors who fail to maintain the integrity of the program.
Under the J-1 program, foreign students are granted visas for up to four months and often land jobs at hotels, resorts and restaurants.
Participation has boomed from about 20,000 students in 1996 to a peak of more than 150,000 in 2008, and roughly 1 million foreign students have taken part in the past decade. The students come from around the world, with some of the top participating countries being Russia, Brazil, Ukraine, Thailand, Ireland, Bulgaria, Peru, Moldova and Poland.
<한글 기사>
교환학생들 美서 노동착취, 쇼걸로 전락
"美 '착취 논란' 교환학생비자 대대적 조사"
범죄조직 유흥업에 악용 적발…"클린턴 장관, 철저 조사 지시"
노동력 착취 논란이 끊이지 않는 교환연수(J-1) 비자가 범죄조직에도 악용되는 것으로 최근 드러난 가운데 미 당국이 대대적인 조사에 나섰다고 AP통신이 5일(현지시간) 보도했다.
힐러리 클린턴 미 국무장관은 'J-1 여름 취업•여행(SWT) 비자'에 대해 광범위하고 철저한 조사를 지시했다고 익명을 요구한 국무부 대변인이 최근 밝혔다.
이 대변인은 통신에 보낸 이메일에서 "정부는 참가자들을 보호하고 문화교류라는 프로그램 취지를 강화하기 위한 추가 조치를 준비하고 있다"고 덧붙였다.
국무부는 SWT 비자의 취업 제한 업종을 확대하는 방안을 검토하는 것으로 알려졌다.
J-1 비자를 받고 참여하는 SWT 프로그램은 방학 동안 미국에서 일도 하며 언어와 문화를 배우게 한다는 취지로 도입됐다.
그러나 일부 기업에서 이 프로그램을 악용해 외국 학생들을 저임금으로 혹사시키는 일이 빈번하게 발생해 논란이 일고 있다.
지난 여름에도 이 프로그램에 참가한 학생 수백명이 허쉬초콜릿 공장의 저임금과 열악한 근무조건에 항의 시위를 벌이기도 했다.
또 지난달 30일에는 J-1 비자를 악용해 동유럽 학생들에게 스트립쇼 클럽 취업을 알선한 범죄 조직도 뉴욕 남부검찰에 적발됐다.
웨이트리스로 취직시켜준다는 말을 듣고 미국에 온 한 여학생은 디트로이트 스트립쇼 클럽에서 쇼걸로 일하면서 구타와 성폭행을 당하기도 했다고 통신은 전했다.
