Guest Worker Programs

I've been tracking the recent stories about the immigration debate and whether we should have some sort of a guest worker program. It's a topic that really interests me. Many families that I met on my mission in Argentina are now living here in Utah (some legally, some not), and I regularly work with Latino immigrants at the Guadalupe Legal Clinic.

I am in favor of adopting some sort of a guest worker program, but only as long as that program has a path towards citizenship/residency in it. I like the idea of recognizing that our economy is driven by immigrants who do all of the jobs that we are too prideful to do, and I like the idea of allowing immigrants to come out of the shadows a little bit. But I think that the guest worker program needs to put the immigrants on some sort of a path to citizenship/residency. A guest worker program without such a path would be fundamentally flawed. It would presume that immigrant workers will return to their home country after their work visa expires. I don't see that happening.

I like the bill that Senators McCain and Kennedy co-sponsored and that, with the help of Senator Spector, got pushed through the judiciary committee largely in tact (Senator Hatch voted against the bill, which may prompt me to write a letter). It puts the guest workers/immigrants on a kind of citizenship/residency track, and it requires that the immigrants pay back taxes and a fee, learn English, stay out of trouble with the law, and a few other things. This country needs immigrants. There are a lot of bad immigrants in this country (caught up in drug trafficking, ect.), but there are a lot of good ones too. The good ones work hard, stay out of trouble, contribute to the economy, and their kids go to college and become professionals. I think this kind of a bill would do a lot to help the good ones, the immigrants who really deserve it. It rewards immigrants who come here willing to work hard and stay out of trouble, and its incentives help the immigrants to participate in society (speaking English, paying taxes, not always worrying about INS, not being afraid to stand up for themselves at work because their employer threatens to them you in to INS, etc.). I can't tolerate bills that seek to punish/segregate immigrants without distinguishing between the good ones and the bad ones, and this bill does not fall into that trap.

The Senate's bill is definitely better than the racist/elitist/protectionist piece of legislation that the House passed and that Senator Frist is trying to get, which would make it a felony to be an illegal immigrant (now it is only a civil violation), and it would establish civil and criminal penalties for anyone employing or assisting illegal immigrants (I can't tell if that would apply to all of us at the Guadalupe Legal Clinic or not).

The one counter-argument that I find persuasive is that this kind of a program is unfair to those who are in their home countries, going through the appropriate channels to get work visas, waiting their turn. I agree that this is unfair to them. The way I would remedy this unfairness is to make the fee/fine for illegal immigrants who are currently in the country and who want guest worker status significantly higher than for those who have come here or who are waiting to come here through appropriate channels.

Here are some links to some interesting news articles on the subject:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-immig26mar26,1,7374804.story?page=1&coll=la-headlines-frontpage
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/politics/26cornyn.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/27/AR2006032700684.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/28/AR2006032801223.html?nav=hcmodule
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/24/AR2006032401719.html?sub=new