Two Views of US Immigration Bill

On the surface the AFL CIO article and the American Farm Bureau Federation are diametrically opposed although it seems that the AFL is not against importing more immigrant labor as long as they are given the right to become citizens. Perhaps some compromise granting rights but not those to citizenship might be possible. It seems that there is a lot of exploitation not just by farm employers but by contractors delivering labor in the present system.


Policies of Exploitation Doomed Immigration Bill
June 11th, 2007
Plagued by anti-family, anti-worker provisions, President Bush’s immigration proposal was doomed at the onset. The bill abandoned long-standing U.S. policy favoring the reunification of families and failed to protect workers’ most basic rights.

To be effective, reform must address the real roots of the immigration crisis: an outdated system that creates a two-tiered society in which employers are able to roll roughshod over immigrant workers’ rights while lowering working standards for all workers. If adopted, the proposal would have only exacerbated this condition.

The best way to guarantee the rights and wages of all workers in this country is to give every immigrant the opportunity to become a citizen, with all the rights and duties that entails. At the same time, Congress must revise our immigration system so that in the face of labor shortages, future foreign workers may enter this country not as disposable “guests” but as permanent residents with the same rights and protections as all other U.S. workers.

Like undocumented workers, “guest workers” in this country face enormous obstacles in enforcing their labor rights. The H-2 guest worker programs bring in agricultural and other seasonal workers to pick crops, do construction and work in the seafood industry, among other jobs. Workers typically borrow large amounts of money to pay travel expenses, fees and even bribes to recruiters. That means that before they even begin to work, they are indebted.

According to a new study published by the Southern Poverty Law Center, it is not unusual for a Guatemalan worker to pay more than $2,500 in fees to obtain a seasonal guest worker position, about a year’s worth of income in Guatemala. And Thai workers have been known to pay as much as $10,000 for the chance to harvest crops in the orchards of the Pacific Northwest. Interest rates on the loans are sometimes as high as 20% a month. Homes and vehicles are required collateral.

Handcuffed by their debt and bound to employers who can send them home on a whim, the “guests” are forced to remain and work for employers even when their pay and working conditions are second-rate, hazardous or abusive. Hungry children inevitably trump protest. Technically, these programs include some legal protections, but in reality, those protections exist mostly on paper. Government enforcement is almost nonexistent. Private attorneys refuse to take cases and language barriers make it virtually impossible for workers to speak out.

History and common sense dictate that exploitation of workers will continue as long as it makes economic sense for employers to do so. We must step outside of the status quo and revise the current immigration law in a way that guarantees full labor rights for all workers within our borders and reflects real labor market conditions by restructuring the current permanent employment visa category. That is, future foreign workers should be welcomed as permanent residents with full rights at the onset — not as fungible units of production. This is the only way to guarantee that foreign workers enjoy the same rights and protections as all other U.S. workers, including the freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life.

With the support of the immigrant rights community, we will continue to pursue an immigration plan that places workers’ rights at the forefront and removes economic incentives for exploitation.

By AFL CIO President John Sweeney


Shelving Immigration Bill Hurts Farmers
June 11th, 2007
American agriculture was very disappointed when the Senate failed to move forward last week on immigration. We’re going to push as hard as we can to get the bill back on track. The fact is, the existing law is broken and the sooner we fix it, the better off everyone will be.

Today, farmers aren’t able to find Americans willing to take farm jobs even at pay averaging $10/hour (Sen. McCain offered $50/hour to anyone who finished out the lettuce harvest in Yuma AZ). Farmers cannot divine which documents are legitimate and they aren’t allowed to question documents without the risk of being slapped with a lawsuit. Our economists estimate that up to $9 billion annually in domestic agricultural production is at risk of being lost if we don’t solve this problem. That’s $9 billion of wealth we create here in U.S. that we will go to farmers in other countries.

We already have a problem with our dependence on foreign sources of oil. Do we really want to create the same problem with America’s food supplies and the broader food security of the nation? The Senate needs to return to immigration reform NOW!

By American Farm Bureau Federation | American Farm Bureau Federation's Website(s)