Guest worker Policy Adam Duong Carlos De Santiago Jennifer Fujimori Shaun Adriano Victoria Pacheco

Workers’ Rights Current and potential programs all promise: Fair Wages Acceptable working and living conditions Treatment as “guests” Yet since the Bracero Program (1942) Workers are paid less for harder work Working conditions are less than adequate (e.g. agricultural workers subject to pesticide use on the fields they work on) Living conditions are kept to the minimum of standards Worker’s aren’t treated as guests and are in constant fear of being deported At the end of the day, employers benefit from the profits they earn at the expense of the cheap labor migrants offer Current Programs H-2, H-2A or any current provisions all promise: -Fair Wages -Acceptable working and living conditions -Treatment as “Guests”   Yet, since the Bracero Program of 1942 -Workers are paid less for harder work -Working conditions are less than adequate (e.g. Agricultural workers continue to be subject to conditions that freely utilize pesticides) -Living conditions are kept to the minimum of standards. -The reality is that these workers’s aren’t treated as guests and are in constant fear of deportation At the end of the day, employers profit from not offering equal rights and welcome the cheap labor migrants have to offer.

Employer Sanctions Application process Real labor shortage? Required to provide housing/food/transportation Cheaper to use unauthorized labor Lack of enforcement/no incentive to use the H-2A program Result: not wisely used IRCA: attempted at enforcing employer sanctions -The H-2A program and variations of it (H-1A, H-1B, H-1C) have all suffered from failures of employer sanctions -The process of applying for temporary workers is complicated and can take longer than the farmer can wait, given that they have to harvest at a certain time -Some argue that the labor shortage is not as severe as employers claim and that they are not trying hard enough to hire American labor -The program requires the employer to provide housing, food, transportation, and fair wages to the workers, which they must fund themselves -Providing fair wages to foreign workers is costly; it is cheaper to hire unauthorized workers so that employers can pay them whatever they want with no threat of penalty -None of these are actively enforced and there is no incentive to play by the rules and follow the program -As a result, temporary worker programs are not as widely used as intended -There are more reasons for an employer to evade it than to use it -The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 attempted to enforce some bureaucratic methods of monitoring employers and preventing them from hiring unauthorized workers, such as filling out I-9 forms -These documents could be forged easily and that aspect of IRCA was rarely enforced and ultimately ineffective

Legalization Policy IRCA Fair and Secure Immigration Reform Policy Residency in U.S. before January 1, 1982 Temporary resident alien  Legalization Special Agricultural Worker (SAW) Program Working in perishable crops for 3+ months before May 1986 can qualify Failed  lack of enforcement and no actual path written out Fair and Secure Immigration Reform Policy Legalization process shot down by May 2007 Senate Bill Lack of enforcement and conflicting opinion regarding legalization  legalization failure One of the major advances towards the legalization process was the IRCA. In an attempt to bring all illegal immigrants out of hiding, they allowed those who had been residing in the U.S. before Jan 1, 1982 to qualify as a temporary resident alien status which would allow them to work in the U.S. for an additional 2 and a half years, then apply for a legal status The Special Agricultural Worker program was also initialized, in which those working on perishable crops for at least 3 months before May 1986 would be able to qualify for legalization as well However both of these legalization options were nulled as the combination of lack of enforcement and the lack of an actual pathway written caused the failure of legalization at the time. The Fair and Secure Immigration Reform Policy which was proposed by the Bush Administration attempted to address the legalization process again in an attempt to provide a path of legalization for guest workers, however the issue was highly controversial and eventually was thrown out altogether in the May 2007 Senate bill. Overall, the legalization process has been highly overlooked or addressed very poorly up to today as a result of lack of enforcement combined with a high volume of dissent amongst legislation.

Guest Worker Programs in the Comprehensive Bills in Recent Years Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (HR.4437) Eliminate Green Card Lottery, no guest worker program Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 (S.2611) Legalization process, introduction of H2C visa Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity & Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S.1348) Additional legalization progress, introduction of Y visa Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (HR 4437) Requires up to 700 miles (1120 km) of fence along the US-Mexican border Eliminates the Diversity Immigrant Visa (also known as Green Card Lottery) program No guest worker program Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 (S 2611) The Bill proposes 370 miles (600 km) of fencing along highly-populated areas near the border; H.R. 4437 proposes 700 miles (1,100 km) of fencing. This would allow illegal immigrants who have been in the country for more than five years, estimated to be 7 million in number, to apply for citizenship by paying fines and back taxes. The Bill also introduces a H-2C visa, or "blue card." This visa allows employers to bring in outside workers for up to 6 years, after which the employee must spend one year in their original country. Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity & Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1348) Increased border enforcement: it included funding for 300 miles (480 km) of vehicle barriers, 105 camera and radar towers & 20,000 more Border Patrol agents A bill that would have provided legal status and a path to legal citizenship for the approximately 12 million illegal immigrants currently residing in the United States Another new category of visa, the "Y visa", would have been created, that would let temporary guest workers stay in the country for two years, after which they would have to return home

Present and Beyond Guest worker programs controversial from the Braceros to today House and Senate continue to disagree upon each other regarding the issue Presently  Democratic congress  Possible Comprehensive Immigration Reform? In recent years, the guest worker program has been largely debated. With conservatives seeking to mobilize their electorate base by attempting to enact anti-legalization legislation and immigrant advocacy groups promoting a smoother path for naturalization, the house and senate have been at odds. Now that the majority of seats in Congress belong to the left, and due to the newly-arrived presidency of a democrat, we can expect to see comprehensive immigration reform.