Regarding your story about the Guatemalan immigrants who came to this country legally on a guest worker program... This is not an isolated incident. Fraud and exploitation are par for the course with guest worker programs which put the workers completely at the mercy of the corporation who "imports them". If those who come to this country are treated as near-slaves, can be paid $2-3 dollars an hour, sleep in barracks style windowless boxes with no indoor plumbing or insulation, have their freedom of movement restricted by the company and can be deported for organizing for more just working conditions, [as per a segment on a PBS News Hour story that mentioned another company that employs workers under a guest worker program] is this any way to encourage legal immigration??
At a time when Bush is pushing for an expansion of such programs, the media have an obligation to report explicitly on these abuses they entail so that the citizenry can make informed decisions about whether guest worker programs truly represent American democratic values.
UPDATE 2/15/07:
So, they didn't read my letter on the air. Instead they read one by a guy in Arizona who said he pays his H2B (guest) workers very well. Well, good for him. That's great. I'm glad (really). The problem is not that EVERY guest worker in the program is exploited and underpaid. It's that they COULD be because there's very little protection to prevent it. All I'm saying is that we should be doing more to prevent this too-easily-abused program.
Posted by: barb | Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 07:38 AM