The Ghosts of America the Beautiful: Arizona Guest Worker Proposal

PHOENIX (By Alma Alvarez-Smith, Lillian R. Avila, Margie O’Campo Castillo) August 22, 2004 - One of the most controversial issues in our time, especially in light of the “9-11” tragedy, is immigration.  Who are these people?  Why don’t they stay in their own country?  Historically, Mexican migration into the U.S. has been significant and necessary.  Unfortunately, guest worker programs in the past have created a “one-way door” forcing the increase in undocumented workers.  Ironically, the same system that tries to keep immigrants out of the country is the very same that traps them and promotes repeat infractions of the law.  Our society and lifestyles encourage the undocumented worker to come, but require that he not be seen nor heard.  In essence, become a ghost.

Existing as a ghost is a means of survival for the undocumented.  He suffers one injustice after another to remain in this country.  He will not call the police if his employer assaults him, nor will he sue a company if it refuses to pay him.  We never hear economists complain about the cheap labor that lines the wallets of our political contributors, many of whom are quick to bring these ghosts to life to justify racial profiling, as well as the inadequacies of our health-care systems and the rise in unemployment.

In spite of anti-immigrant sentiments, few people advocate draconian control mechanisms, such as national I.D. cards, border fees, and the denial of all health and child education, that some promulgate to achieve the control they feel our country needs.  Perhaps subconsciously we recite, “… bring me your weak, your tired, your huddled masses …,” and yet we know in our heart of hearts that this call was not just for the blond, blue-eyed, wealthy settlers.  It was an all-encompassing call that made no mention of excluding the red, yellow, black or brown.

We’d like to introduce you to some people who could benefit from a user-friendly guest worker program.

Meet Jesus and Margarita. Jesus entered the U.S. illegally about 5 years ago, and later sent for his wife and their baby.  Since then, two more children were born to them in Arizona.  Jesus has maintained stable employment at a Scottsdale golf resort while Margarita works for a well-known fast food chain restaurant.  Neither have INS-issued work permits, and both use social security numbers and I.D.’s acquired on the “black market.”  They have assumed false names and identities to work and live in the U.S.  Despite their desire for legal status, this family opts to remain ghosts rather than face the possibility of deportation or family separation upon applying for a work permit. 

Meet Elsa. When her husband died in the late 80’s, she immigrated illegally to work in the U.S. in order to provide for her small son and daughter.  The children she left behind with relatives have not seen her for 13 years.  They are grown up now and she missed out on most of their childhoods.  Elsa works for an affluent Anglo family.  Her “patrones” are professionals who rarely work less than 60-hours a week.  They rely on her so much that four weeks after their youngest child was born, the mother returned to work and moved her infant into Elsa’s bedroom so Elsa could keep up with the newborn’s feeding schedule.  Elsa cooks, keeps the house clean, and is the surrogate mother to the couple’s two children, seven days a week.  For this, she is paid a weekly salary of one hundred and fifty dollars.

Ponder on this:  what would make you leave your country and your family to risk rape and/or death; reside in an unsafe, unsanitary environment; work in a bath of pesticide-filled ditches; eat meals not fit for human consumption, to become the subject of exploit, abuse and degradation, and devoid of any rights?

It’s the basic principle of supply and demand.  As long as we have the need, they will continue to come.  The Mexican migrant has been an exploited resource in America since the time of the Bracero Program.  The time has come for us to acknowledge and compensate them justly for their vital contribution to our economy and way of life, and make humane their passage and existence, so that they don’t have to give up their families and identities and become ghosts.

A sound guest worker program is vital to ensure that basic civil and human rights are protected.  But before we jump into yet another program du jour, let’s learn from our past mistakes.  Let us consider what worked and didn’t work with past attempts, like the Bracero Program.

The Bracero Program

Even before World War II, the U.S. was experiencing severe labor shortages, but the war exacerbated the labor problem.  Once again, the U.S. looked to its neighbors south of the border for a solution, and found it in a guest worker program.  The program used the labor of men called braceros—Spanish for strong arms—to tend farms, work on the nation’s railroads and provide the muscle to keep America’s economic engine churning and its people fed.

Introduced in 1942 as a wartime solution, the Bracero Program was a bi-national guest worker agreement between the U.S. and Mexico.  It employed 250,000 agriculture and railroad workers until 1947, when it legislatively expired.  The huge economic success of the Bracero Program was obvious.  After its expiration in 1947, many companies continued to employ millions of braceros without formal legislative authority, through an informal system  known as the “Second Bracero Program.”  Considerably more ambitious than the first, the second program employed 4.8 million workers until 1964. All in all, both programs made significant contributions to the economies of the U.S. and Mexico, but at great expense to the braceros.

The first program used a temporary employment contract that obligated the employer to provide work, housing and transportation to and from work.  The worker’s food, health insurance and Mexican retirement were deducted from his wages. The contract guaranteed employment conditions, basic living and health needs and the protection of civil rights.  The U.S. and Mexican governments were responsible to ensure the contracts were honored on both sides.  The idea was to balance labor needs on both sides and boost both economies without displacing workers.  In that regard, the program was very successful.  Mexico benefited from the dollars pumped into its economy, and the U.S. was able to fulfill its labor needs and collect taxes on the bonanza profits of its large companies.  In theory, the Bracero Program should have alleviated the labor and economic issues on both sides.  In reality, serious logistic problems plagued the program.

The pre-screening and application process was a travel hardship for the poor in Mexico, and offered no assurances of employment.  Pre-screening was conducted in Mexico City or at the U.S. border.  The poor, who desperately needed the work, had to travel by foot from their remote villages to the pre-screening sites.  The few “lucky ones” who were hired later faced grueling labor under harsh conditions for pennies an hour.  For many of those “lucky ones” it would be a long time before they would ever see their families again.

The Bracero Program lacked enforcement.  It provided no labor or civil rights protection to its workers and was poorly regulated.  A 2001 lawsuit has revealed the gross mismanagement of the braceros’ retirement funds, which were supposed to have been paid to the workers.  Most of workers never received any of the monies due them.

The program was temporary and offered no lasting economic or social benefit.  The contract stipulations concerning “health, housing, food, wages and working hours” were virtually ignored by both governments and employers.  The braceros were helpless to enforce contract infractions.  A complaint meant certain deportation. While the terms of the contract appeared humane in written form, the daily work and home life of the bracero was anything but safe, sanitary or humane.  Meals were inadequate and too often unfit for human consumption.  In the fields, workers were exposed daily to lethal pesticides, and not allowed even a restroom break.  Without enforcement, employer violations were flagrant.

In addition, the program ignored the fact that Mexican families were separated for many years.  If a worker returned to his homeland to visit his family, he was denied re-entry to resume work.  Family members were barred from freely visiting workers in the U.S.

At the end of their contracts, the workers all faced the same dilemma:  return to their homelands and face high unemployment, or join the ranks of the underworld undocumented workers in the U.S.  At least as a ghost, one had an opportunity to work and provide for one’s family.

In 1964, President Johnson officially terminated the program, but its economic windfalls were hardly forgotten by agriculture businesses.  Determined to find a way to keep cheap labor, large agriculture businesses lobbied successfully for a scaled-down version known as the I.N.S.  H-2 Guest Worker program, which is still widely used today.

Immigrant labor is an indispensable resource to the U.S. economy.  A sound guest worker program that does not exploit that resource is greatly needed.  We offer a guest worker program that addresses and corrects some of the atrocities of the Bracero Program, with suggestions for a more humane and viable program.

Statement of our Position

Understanding the needs and recognizing the flaws in past programs, our Guest Worker Program can be explained in five basic points: 

·         Pre-Departure Employment Contract

·         Full Labor and Civil Rights Protection

·         Border Safety

·         Earned Amnesty

·         Keeping Families Together

To further understand the impact and intricacies involved in the implementation of this five-point program, it is critical to explore the detail behind each point.

Pre-Departure Employment Contract

Today a cross border network exists which allows friends, relatives, labor brokers and recruiters to link industries, occupations and regions to Mexican communities that send migrants to the U.S. This concept, if expanded, could allow employers to advertise their needs and offer employment contracts to those who apply and fit the employment requirements.  Workers would be able to secure an employment contract before leaving Mexico.  This contract would enable them to get a Guest Worker Visa to travel safely in and out of the United States.

In today’s environment, some of the “coyotes” who charge individuals a fee to bring them across the border, include a guarantee of a job upon arrival in the U.S. This guaranteed job carries a high price and is often menial, labor work with questionable employers.  The implementation of the Cross Borders Network would require the expansion of an existing database and widespread access by all individuals to the system.  This could be incorporated with the “Chambatel” program, supported by Vicente Fox.  “Chambatel,” a combination of a Spanish word for “job” and “telephone,” is a program, which includes a toll free number that gives callers access to a database of jobs in Mexico. The program is in place to encourage emigrants to return to Mexico, but could serve as a vehicle to provide information on job opportunities in the United States as well.

The Guest Worker Visa would be valid for three years with the option to extend twice for a total of 9 years.  In order to maintain or extend the visa, individuals must show proof of consistent employment.  Any criminal infractions would make the visa null and void.

Full Labor and Civil Rights Protection

Guest Workers in the U.S. must be treated with the same respect and dignity that is afforded to all our citizens.  They must be protected against individuals who try to impose on them unfair wages or poor working conditions.  As part of the Cross Border Network program, employers who advertise their job openings on the system and hire guest workers would be held to strict enforcement of fair labor laws.  This would ensure that our guest workers receive the highest of three minimum wages – federal or state, local “prevailing wage” (determined by the Department of Labor), or the adverse effect wage rate “AEWR.” (defined as the prevailing wage plus 5% up to a maximum of the regional wage for the industry.)

In addition, workers would be entitled to overtime pay, access to basic sanitary conditions, equal protection under child labor laws and the ability to organize without retaliation.  Workers in the agriculture industry would also be protected under the Agricultural Worker Protection Act (AWPA) and should be provided housing provisions.  Under this Guest Worker Program, the federal government would aggressively investigate and criminally prosecute any employers who recruit undocumented workers from abroad for the purpose of exploiting them for economic gain.

Unlike past programs, which restricted workers to specific industries and locked them into a contract with one employer, this proposal allows workers to switch employers, occupations and even fields or industries, which is especially important and necessary if the employer proves to be abusive.  More importantly, if there is not enough work in one area, under one employer to sustain the employee throughout the year, workers should be able to take on other employment during the “off season” in order to maintain status quo.  They should not be penalized for being ambitious and willing to learn a new job.  We should encourage them to gain new skills and make themselves more versatile.  As long as the labor needs exist, it is to everyone’s benefit to allow these workers to seek employment where they can.

Border Safety

The implementation of a program, which makes passage humane, does not cause illegal border crossings to disappear altogether.  Therefore, this program would advocate humanitarian efforts to increase safety at the southwest border.  We commend and encourage the work done by the special agents in the Tucson sector who are trained in search and rescue techniques.  The search and rescue team is able to render medical assistance when necessary to stabilize the patient and transport them to emergency medical services.  Oftentimes, when undocumented workers set out to cross the border, either due to lack of forethought, knowledge or funding, they find themselves ill-equipped or unprepared to handle the harshness offered by the desert terrain and weather.  In 1994, only 23 migrant deaths were recorded.  Between October 1997 and June 2001, an estimated 1013 migrants died trying to cross the border.  Over 60% of those deaths were from heat exposure or drowning. We know that a guest worker program cannot stop illegal crossings entirely but no one should lose their life just because they are trying to better themselves.  Efforts on survival training, search and rescue techniques, and expanded public information regarding especially hazardous crossing areas need to be continued and improved.

This program does not encourage the military style enforcement strategies that have been exhibited by programs like Operation Gatekeeper – El Paso or Operation Hold the Line – San Diego, but rather programs like Operation Crossroads which aims to disrupt smuggling activities and put smugglers out of business.  The key element of the Operation Crossroads program is to cut off smuggler access to facilities and transportation hubs that enable them to move and conceal migrants.

 Earned Amnesty

The first component in this program regulates new migration but the United States also needs to address the undocumented population currently present in the U.S.  This component of the Guest Worker Program would allow guest workers who are interested in long-term residency and undocumented workers who have a long-standing presence in the country to earn their amnesty.  Through this component, workers who can show proof that they have been consistently employed and been paying taxes for the preceding seven years, and have no criminal record, would be given the opportunity to adjust their status and apply for permanent legal residency.  In many cases, these people are already here established in their neighborhoods and communities.  They are going to remain here, why not allow them to become legal so they don’t have to live like ghosts, constantly looking over their shoulder?  As evidenced by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, when undocumented immigrants change their status to that of permanent resident, there is an immediate increase in personal investment in language skills, education and training necessary for full participation in the economy and society.  This increase in personal investment results in an increase in wages for newly legalized workers.  It is a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Our earned amnesty component would also allow for legalization of students who have lived here for a long time to enable them to fully contribute to society.  Current law restricts states from offering to undocumented students in-state tuition to a four-year university.  Students end up confined to menial jobs with little hope of advancement.  It is in everyone’s best interest to identify those individuals who have applied themselves to earn good grades and afford them the opportunity to continue their education.  Undocumented students who have been attending a state funded school and are on track to graduate would be eligible to apply for legal residency, and in turn qualify for in-state tuition rates to attend a state funded institution of higher education.

Keeping Families Together

One of the greatest tragedies of past guest worker programs has been the end result of pulling and keeping families apart, often for many years.  Past programs have required workers to return to their home state when their visas expired, making it impossible to legally return to the U.S. for work.  This “one-way door” encourages workers to remain illegally in the U.S. to continue earning money, rather than return to their families and be unable to provide for them.  Guest Workers should be allowed to travel back and forth across the border while their applications for extensions are being reviewed.  Whether their families are in Mexico or in the U.S., workers should be able to remain with their families while they pursue continued employment.

In addition, to reduce the current backlogs on visa petitions, the processing of documented immigration must be shortened.  Part of the backlog issue is derived from tightly held restrictions on visa caps.  Current visa caps are unrealistic and need to be reviewed for modification. Understanding that the ideal situation is to have a perfectly balanced representation from all countries, the reality is that in the State of Arizona, we need workers and are able to supply employment to many of the workers who can make their way north from Mexico.   It would behoove us to allow more visas from Mexico, to fill employment needs, as long as the needs and workers exist.

Impact: WIIFM? (What’s in it for me?)

A guest worker program sounds like a nice, humanitarian thing to do, but what’s in it for me – for us – for the United States?  Why should the United States bend over backward to help Mexican workers relocate to find work?  It all comes down to simple economics.  As a society, we are all better off by including the Mexican workers in our workforce and our world.  While many opponents to guest worker programs will argue that immigrants suck our resources dry, they just come over and take and take, the opposite is actually more accurate.  The National Research Council’s National Academy of Science estimates that the average immigrant and his or her descendants pay an estimated $80,000 more in taxes than they will receive in local, state and federal benefits over their lifetimes. They actually produce a net gain to our economy through their tax payments, which help finance the cost of schools, health care, roads, welfare and Social Security.

While they are helping our economy, the are also helping the Mexican economy by sending some of their hard earned money back to family members in Mexico.  According to a survey by the Inter-American Development Bank, an estimated 10 million adult immigrants in the United States send an average of $200 to their families back home about seven times a year.  Sixty four percent of these workers earn less than $30,000 a year but are enjoying a significantly better life in the U.S. than they would in their homeland.  The money they send helps their families live a better life while it also helps pump up the Mexican economy.

If that isn’t convincing enough, let’s discuss it in basic economic terms.  In a simple economic world, we have substitute factors and complementary factors.  The immigrant workers are substitute factors for some domestic workers, but mostly, they are performing work that domestic workers will not do.  When we increase the number of immigrant workers, there is an increase in product.  There is also a need for more complementary workers to supervise, train, etc.

When new workers (immigrants) are added, the wages drop.  Granted, a drop in wages for the original group of workers is not a positive note, but it is in direct correlation to many other positive effects.  The bottom line is a net gain, because you now have more employees who put money back into the economy; more workers equal more products, so Gross Domestic Product is increased, and the number of complementary workers went up as well.  So even though a few workers saw a decrease in wages, by and large, the impact to the economy caused by the entrance of immigrant labor is positive.

Conclusion

If there are two sides to every coin and it does take two-to-tango, then why is it we only hear about the undocumented worker?  What role does the American employer play?  How often is a company penalized for hiring the undocumented?  Who benefits more economically and has more to gain from this undocumented relationship?

Countless studies show that Mexican immigrants have had a positive impact on our economy and have played key roles in building our nation and fighting in our wars to preserve our democratic institutions.  It’s about time we use our reasoning abilities and exercise our rights to question and scrutinize the rhetoric our citizens are being force-fed.  Question our policy makers and those who would have us believe that all the blame lies with the people they have conveniently labeled “illegal aliens.”  Wouldn’t regulated legal immigration benefit everyone versus unregulated illegal immigration?

We have come a long way since the dark and shameful period when America bought and sold human beings, but a longer road awaits us still.  The undocumented worker is not the villain; he is a victim.  Our needs gave birth to him, and therefore, at the very least we must protect his existence in our country.  We must reach a point where life is valued regardless of nationality.  If we are not able to invest in helping another human achieve a dream to better his family, we should at least be able to respect that dream and not stand in the way, regardless of that individual’s citizenship status.

We are bombarded daily with changes that adversely affect the disadvantaged.  It is our duty to make a diligent effort to dissect proposed changes to ensure they will not adversely affect our brother.  We have a moral obligation to look out for the weak and those who have no voice.  These are the very principles on which our nation was founded.  Make a pledge to stand for them.