Immigration/Labor Rights

Current Guestworker Programs Also Bad for Guestworkers

Last Updated (Monday, 12 May 2008 15:02) Written by barb howe Friday, 09 May 2008 23:27

CNN’s Lou Dobbs Show had a camera crew at the House hearing on guestworker programs the other day. No reporter was there to interview the witnesses, and the resulting story, which aired the following day, simply showed slyly chosen excerpts of the hearing accompanied by their opinionated commentary which they portray as “news.” The story included a clip of Farmworker Justice Executive Director Bruce Goldstein’s testimony.

We were hesitant to even mention the Lou Dobbs story on our website since the show’s anti-immigrant, xenophobic tone is front and center in this particular story. But it does contain half of the truth: guestworker programs are bad for US workers. However, we would like to point out one glaring omission: guestworker programs are also bad for guestworkers.

The fact that we find ourselves on the same side as Lou Dobbs on this particular issue makes us uncomfortable. The indignation that both anti-immigrant demagogues such as Dobbs and social justice organizations such as Farmworker Justice feel regarding guestworker programs are rooted in two very different sets of values. The Dobbs line says that US citizens are more valuable than other workers; that the American dream is a zero-sum game which immigrants can only win if Americans lose and that therefore Americans are threatened by immigrants and immigration. They use “illegal immigration” as a front for their restrictionist views. They claim to want to protect American workers but do nothing effective to empower any workers. In fact, they weaken working people’s bargaining power by dividing them based on fear and racism.

At Farmworker Justice, we believe that “guestworker” programs are bad for all workers because they allow employers to hire foreign workers whose temporary, restricted, non-immigrant status deprives of them of any meaningful bargaining power with their employers or the government. We oppose guestworker programs not because we oppose immigrants –after all, we are a proud nation of immigrants who have all come here with the same dream: that with hard work and self-sacrifice, we can achieve a better standard of living for our loved ones. Farmworker Justice opposes guestworker programs because they are exploitative and contrary to our values of justice and equal opportunity for all –two great American ideals that both immigrants and U.S. citizens deserve. That’s why we argue for an earned legalization program allowing undocumented workers already in the U.S. to earn a legal immigration status.

Unfortunately we still have guestworker programs in this country. Until the day we don’t, we will continue our 27-year history of helping U.S. citizens, immigrants and guestworkers alike enforce their rights to ensure that American ideals are denied to none.