Note to readers: I haven't had the time to look into this issue at all. This is one of two stories that I need to bring myself up to speed on. The other story is Libya, and just what Muammar Gaddafi is offering for his excusal for past misdeeds. As well as the nexis between Libyan posturing and N. Korea's game of poker.
On to the story.
January 9, 2004
The Bush immigration reform will fan competition between groups of low-wage workers, undermining the advancement of African-Americans, Puerto Ricans and other legal U.S. residents from economically depressed groups, critics of the proposal say.
"It pits foreign-born and native-born workers against one another and lowers the standards for everybody," said Hector Figueroa, a spokesman for Service Employees International, Local 32BJ, which represents 70,000 doormen, custodians and other building workers.
Low-wage workers born in the United States "are already suffering because immigration policy that has gone unchanged since 1965 has succeeded in delivering into the U.S. millions of low-skilled, low-wage people year after year," said John Keeley of the Center for Immigration Studies.
The Bush plan would allow foreign workers to enter the country and take unfilled jobs here, as long as American employers first offered the jobs to U.S. citizens by posting them on a government Web site.
Critics say that could threaten the upward mobility of even middle-class workers, because employers would no longer have to offer higher wages or better working conditions to find workers for less desirable jobs.
Critics also say the guest worker program does not address issues such as lack of low-income housing, crowded schools and a lack of opportunities for minorities to advance into higher-skilled employment, issues that have caused friction in communities from Jackson Heights to Farmingville.
But Tamar Jacoby, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, disagreed, saying the program would allow workers who are now employed illegally to enter the mainstream economy.
Once they did, she said, guest workers could insist on fair wages and decent working conditions. And they would be more willing to seek government services and better schooling that would improve their lives and those of their families.
Gordon Hanson, director of the Center for U.S.-Mexico Studies, said the proposed policies would mean immigrants could put down at least temporary roots, lending greater stability to communities feeling besieged by itinerant workers.
But critics say because the Bush plan only extends legal status to workers who are employed, employers would wield vast coercive powers over them. Guest workers who quit or were fired would be stripped of their right to remain in the United States.
Some immigrants believe the new policy will induce a deluge of new immigrant workers that would eat into their opportunities for employment.
One such worker is Miguel Sanchez Flores. Flores, 75, came from Mexico four years ago and said he was ousted from a job in a Chinese noodle shop by more recent Mexican immigrants who were willing to work for even less. More at link
I can certainly see this as a win win situation for the Bush Administration. Bush mollifies business by fomenting wage competition for the very lowest paid of American workers, and the large numbers of Latin Americans will likely see this as a positive development.
I need to read more about the Bush's "Immigration Reform" before bludgeoning it. 'Reform' is a GOP codeword for 'screw the average person, whilst lining businesses pockets.'
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