The guest worker program and immigrants - Essay Example

Should a guest worker program allowing long-term employment of un ized immigrants be legalized? Introduction: “You see, we got people sneaking into our country to work. They want to provide for their families. Family values do not stop at the Rio Grande River," Bush said. He commented, "People are coming to put food on the table. But because there is no legal way for them to do so, through a temporary worker program, theyre putting pressure on our border." (Fletcher & Fears, October 2005) The guest worker program is a strong way of dealing with the issue of illegal immigrants entering a nation. As an impermanent occupant the person would be permitted to survive and do a job in the nation but would not be suitable to obtain reimbursement from privilege programs. After one and a half years of temporary residency the individual can apply for permanent legal rights by demonstration of minimal knowledge of English language, US history and administration. If the guest worker program is legalized the government would require to create and grant 200,000 two year visas every year. In this context, it may be noted, “As of November 2, 1989 2,059,600 persons of all nationalities had been approved as temporary residents among 3,031,166 who had applied for legalization and had received preliminary processing, only 115,646 applications had been denied, 612 cases had been terminated and 855,300 are pending.” (Heer, n.d). Thesis: The Guest Worker Program provides enough incentives to call out for its legalization. Under all circumstances this program should be legalized. The guest worker program: The guest worker program was introduced in United States in 2004 to attract the much-needed labor at that time in different industries. This program aimed at improving the lives of the immigrants in the United States by offering them opportunities open in the country. Under this program the job positions that remain unfilled by the Americans can be offered to the immigrants who have valid work permit. The system required the employers, contributing to the guest worker program, to register the non-American employees hired, such that the government could maintain a record. This policy helped in filling up the positions that did not attract the American Workers. This program helped in registrations of many immigrants. The government provided permits to the immigrants participating in the Guest worker program, for a period of three years, after which the permit was renewed if the certain requirements were met. The immigrants participating in the program required registering and paying a nominal fee to the Government. After which they would have been provided with temporary worker cards, so as to identify them. This program further planned at working in association with the foreign governments towards increasing the incentives of the immigrants to return home nation after their permit expires. The changes in the immigration system were proposed to filter the quality of the immigrants entering the country. This program was proposed in the year 2004 but was not approved, it was also apart of 2007 immigration reform bill, rejected by the Congress (U.S immigration support 2010). Every human being, whether legal or illegal immigrant, being present in the jurisdiction of the government has the right to be protected against abuse. This program would provide the much needed strenght to the immigrants to raise their voice against exploitation. Criticisms of the program: This program has been Criticised strongly, they argue that the immigration system is an already overburdened, suffering from lack of funds and would be crippled with technological challenges while dealing with an influx of ‘applications large temporary worker programs and expansion of the permanent immigration system (Thornburgh May 2007). The critics also argue that a large guestworker program would have an adverse affect on the wages of the domestic workers. "The system is collapsing from within," says Stan Eury, the chief of the North Carolonia Growers union. (Thornburgh May 2007). This move has also been portrayed as a move of “Amnesty”. They argue that in 1986 these programs would do nothing more than increasing legal and illegal immigration flows. “How can the government hope to track workers when the southern border is porous? And how can senators be assured that workers would be forced home after six years when the government has failed to enforce the current immigration laws on millions of workers?” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. (Fletcher & Fears, October 19, 2005). Strong enforcement of border control is still a challenge for United States, which would further fuel this problem. Benefits of the Program: Immigration has been a concern for United States since a distant past. Various attempts of solving this problem and filtering the advent of unauthorized workers in the country have failed. This program would encourage registration of the unauthorized immigrants; it is humane and does not encroach upon the rights of any individual. This program prioritizes on the employment of the immigrants with protecting the rights of employment of the workers of the host nation. It provides enough protection of jobs for the workers of the host country, making sure that the immigrants are offered the jobs only which are refused by the citizens of that country. "It makes sense to have a rational plan that says, you can come and work on a temporary basis if an employer cant find an American to do the job," said the then president George Bush. "It makes sense for the employer, it makes sense for the worker, and it makes sense for those good people trying to enforce our border." (Fletcher & Fears, October 19, 2005). Under this program the registered immigrants (estimated as 11 million) can apply for work and would be provided with a biometric identification card, which would help the government to track the where about of these immigrants. Moreover the illegal immigrants already present in the States would be fined before they enter the program. Providing a constant knowledge of the whereabouts of the immigrants under this program will also help to reduce the danger to national security of having 8 million unidentified and unauthorized immigrants in the country. (Jachimowicz Feb 2004). Further under this program none of the foreign nationals would be allowed to apply for the legal residency on expiration of their time in the program. This would help not only in maintaining records but also keep a tab on the activities of the foreign nationals. There have been many discussions that the tough immigration policies of the government will aggravate the problem of shortage of labor in the fields of construction, hospitality, farming and medicine. This program will even help to bridge the shortage of the labor in these industries of United States. This program will push the unregistered immigrants towards legalization. It would force them to learn English act in the financial processes of the government by paying taxes and fines and get into the formal process of passing the citizenship course. It would be applicable to both the highly skilled and low skilled workers and at the same time would protect the employment opportunities of the US workers. The illegal workers are often subject to abuse and exploitation. Due to their illegal position the cases against them are not reported. The immigrants are often exploited at the workplace also with no legal rights to protect them. The guest worker program also aims at protecting the rights of the immigrants, the right of minimum wage and the right against exploitation. In addition, to this the program was so planned that the temproray workers received the due credit of their work, also enabling them to contribute their earnings to any kind of savings plans. (U.S immigration support 2010). Conclusion: United States has a tradition to welcome the foreigners in their country. It has been mentioned that the growth of the immigrants have propelled the economy of US, the immigrants make huge contributions to the economy. They take up difficult jobs engaging them for long hours. Many immigrants become entrepreneurs. It has been emphasized that the US is dependent on the immigrants because of the virtues that they bring along with them. They also bring in values like ‘family, work ethics and independence.’ (U.S immigration support 2010) This program sought outs all the problems faced by the US immigration department by encouraging registrations of the immigrants as well as securing the rights of the immigrants and providing them with better living conditions in the country. Thus it is a proposal of a “better immigration system so that more immigrants are able to achieve their American Dream.” (U.S immigration support 2010). In the words of John McCain this would also help to keep the families of the immigrants together and help to avoid the creation of permanent “Second Class”. (McFadyen , n.d). References 1. Fletcher M. & Fears D, (october 19, 2005) “temporary worker program is explained”, The Washington post, available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/18/AR2005101801613.html (Accessed on May 21, 2010) 2. Heer D, (n.d) "Undocumented Mexicans in the United states", Pg 199 Cambridge university press, United Kingdom, Available at: http://books.google.co.in/books?id=5qcydDqlOp4C&pg=PA124&dq=3.%09Heer+D,+(n.d)+%22Undocumented+Mexicans+in+the+United+states&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f=false (Accessed on May 21, 2010). 3. Jachimowicz M (Feb 2004) "Bush proposes temporary worker program", Migration Information source, Available at: http://www.migrationinformation.org/USFocus/display.cfm?ID=202 (Accessed on May 21, 2010). 4. McFadyen J, (n.d), "John Mccain on Immigration", about.com, Available at: http://immigration.about.com/od/immigrationlawandpolicy/a/mccain.htm (Accessed on May 21, 2010) 5. Thornburgh N, (May 24, 2007), "can guest worker program work?",Time.com, Available at: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1625191,00.html (Accessed on May 21, 2010) 6. U.S immigration support 2010, "Guest worker program", available at: http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/guestworkerprogram.html (Accessed on May 21, 2010) Read More