JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — An advocacy group says the State Department should add housekeepers to a list of prohibited jobs for foreign college students in a cultural exchange program.
The State Department announced changes to the J-1 Summer Work and Travel Program in May and expanded its list of prohibited jobs to include manufacturing and the sex industry.
It was the latest in a series of steps to fix the program since The Associated Press reported in 2010 that some students were being forced into poor living and working conditions.
In announcing the changes, the agency opened a period of public comment.
The Southern Poverty Law Center said Tuesday that it found student housekeepers being exploited at a Mississippi casino and called on the agency to ban those jobs from the program.
