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Sign up January 2, 2025Reining in illegal immigration ranks as a top priority for Montana’s now entirely Republican federal delegation as they head to Washington, D.C., for the next Congress. The immigration drumbeat by Republicans in elections since 2016 is that Montana, to borrow a phrase from U.S. Sen Steve Daines, is a “northern border state with a southern border problem.” That concern is, however, complicated by Montana’s increasing reliance on foreign labor.The year just ended with a flurry of national attention paid to visas for professional workers, or H-1B work permits, as Elon Musk argued with anti-immigration Republicans on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter about the need for H-1Bs to compensate for a dearth of skilled tech workers.The number of foreign workers sought by employers in Montana has nearly doubled since 2016. In 2024, employers applied for about 3,000 visa positions.Of the approximately 11 million immigrants living in the country without legal permission, about 42% are people who have overstayed visas instead of crossing one of the nation’s borders illegally, according to the Congressional Research Service. Visa policy is usually adjusted in the contents of border security bills, which some Republicans have attempted to use to increase the costs and the level of scrutiny for visa applications — as Daines has done by cosponsoring visa bills for the past two years. The big growth in Montana was in demand for H-2B visas, which are for non-agricultural jobs, skilled and unskilled, but without the educational degrees required for H-1Bs, the visa form at the center of the late-year debate between Musk and immigration hardliners.From 2018 to 2024, the number of H-2Bs sought for Montana jobs increased from 146 to 1,178. The biggest increase behind that growth was the number of out-of-state businesses intending to place H-2B workers in Montana. There were nine H-2B applications submitted by out-of-state businesses specifically to locate workers at Montana worksites in 2018. Typically, each application covers multiple workers. In 2024, the number of applications had risen to 43.Gallatin County attracted the most requests for H-2B workers, with businesses applying for 596 workers in the last federal fiscal year, mostly tied to construction, landscaping and lodging. On the upper end, the pay range for those positions is more than $20 an hour. The largest number of applications, 658, came from agricultural and forestry businesses. Farms and ranches have relied on foreign workers for decades and are still awarded the most initial approvals, 1,676 in 2024.The number of farms and ranches with a stake in immigration policy drew one of the only non-secure-our-borders messages of the 2024 election cycle. Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Tester drew the endorsement of a former president of the conservative Montana Farm Bureau Federation, Hans McPherson, specifically for supporting a 13% increase in the number of employment visas. McPherson told Montana Free Press he didn’t consider border security and access to foreign workers to be the same issue.However, spending from groups supporting business-friendly visa terms lined up for Republican Tim Sheehy, who won the election on a platform that focused on the U.S.-Mexico border, but not visas, or the unauthorized immigrants who overstay their work permits. Specifically, Craig Duchossois, whose family once had majority ownership of Churchill Downs, gave $250,000 to More Jobs Less Government, a PAC created to advocate for Sheehy’s election. Duchossois serves on the board of the American Business Council, which advocates for “the integration of immigrants into our economy as consumers, workers, entrepreneurs and citizens.”In Montana, visas for degreed professionals, H-1Bs, are typically related to jobs in rural areas that applicants say aren’t attracting U.S. citizens. That’s according to information from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.Six rural school districts in eastern Montana were approved for 13 H-1B workers, with Brockton School District on Fort Peck Reservation receiving more than half. Lump in Montana’s universities, and education is the largest sector requesting H-1Bs. Health care providers also rely on H-1Bs. Rural medical providers in 10 Montana counties applied for H-1Bs in the last federal fiscal year, which ended in September, as did Montana’s largest medical hubs, for 33 statewide. Seven different Montana scientific and technical businesses and a large financial services business in Great Falls also sought highly-skilled workers, though the asks were smaller than requests from rural schools and health care providers.—Tom LuteyWill they have to reapply?When the Legislature convenes Jan. 6, one particular thing to watch for is whether the state Senate moves to reconfirm department heads who are holdovers from Gov. Greg Gianforte’s first term — and whether those confirmations are held back from final approval until late in the session in a potential attempt to use them as negotiating leverage.Per the Montana Constitution, department heads appointed by the governor are subject to confirmation vote by the state’s 50 senators, and then “hold office until the end of the governor’s term unless sooner removed by the governor.” That language has historically left it somewhat ambiguous about what happens when a reelected governor like Gianforte wants to keep some department heads previously confirmed by the Senate.Lawmakers sometimes suggest those holdovers should be put through another round of confirmation scrutiny. Reelected governors have been known to bristle in response.Sen. John Esp, R-Big Timber, recalled to Senate lawmakers in December being told to “pound sand” by Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer when the majority-Republican Legislature indicated that his first-term picks would need confirmation again if they were to serve for Schweitzer’s second term, which ran from 2009 to 2013.One Republican legislator told Capitolized that such confirmations might come late in the 2025 session — only after Gianforte’s directors have proven responsive to issues raised by lawmakers. Esp told Capitolized his only interest this year is in making sure the department heads are working for the public. Confirmations aren’t a bargaining chip, he said. —Tom LuteyOn BackgroundFinding health care workers in rural Montana is tough. Here’s how one rural nursing home did it. Last fall, the Montana Office of Public Instruction’s employment portal listed 853 active job postings for licensed public school positions in Montana. Gov. Greg Gianforte has repeatedly called for expanding trades education as demand for construction workers has increased.The post More foreign visas for Montana appeared first on Montana Free Press.