Mar 14, 2007

U.S. Far From Free for its Migrant Workers

by Laura Starita

George Bush spent the past week in Latin America talking with leaders from Uruguay, Brazil and Mexico, among others, in an attempt to combat growing anti-U.S. sentiment. One of the main subjects was the expansion of the guest worker program. In 2005, more than 120,000 guest worker visas were issued to Latin American workers, more than three-quarters of which were given to Mexicans.

Yet a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center questions whether guest worker programs benefit workers as they should. Guest workers are often recruited by unscrupulous brokers who charge exorbitant travel and service fees, putting them in debt before they arrive (U.S. employers are supposed to share travel expenses with their guests, but rarely do). Once here, they are often paid less than the promised wage on fewer than the promised hours; forced to live in cramped, unsanitary environments; work in unsafe conditions and are given no medical care or worker’s compensation in the event of illness or injury. Many employers confiscate workers’ documents so they are unable to leave. Given that visas are connected with a specific employer, workers are unlikely to complain, since to do so means they will have to go home and lose any hope of repaying their debts. Collectively, these circumstances place guest workers in a form of indentured servitude.

This report begs the question: If things are this bad for workers authorized to be in the country, how bad is it for unauthorized workers? According to the Pew Hispanic Center, more than 700,000 unauthorized workers entered the United States from Latin America in 2004 (the last year for which they have published data). Pew research shows unauthorized migrants find employment in the same industries that exploit guest workers - agriculture, fisheries, janitorial, food processing and construction. In the case of unauthorized migrants, however, they are additionally subjected to physical threats with no option to leave. Guest worker programs are meant to decrease the number of unauthorized migrants, yet the United States is the “home of the free” for neither group.

New York Times:
From Mexico Also, the Message to Bush is Immigration

Indentured Servants in America

Southern Poverty Law Center: Guestworker Report