We've all heard George Bush say dumb things. In fact there are websites dedicated to listing quotes from this ineloquent buffoon. My personal favorite is this one: "We can't secure our (southern) border without a guest worker program." Not only is this total nonsense (we could secure our southern today if our government simply possessed the resolve to do so), but the president seems to be trying to suggest that we don't have ANY guest worker programs. In point of fact, the United States has ten work-visa programs (H1A, H2A, H1B, H2B, L, etc). American companies are lobbying Congress to expand these programs. They've also been exploiting loopholes that allow them to import more cheap foreign labor. And American workers are paying a heavy price for this practice (& it will continue to get worse).
The L visa program is particularly damaging. The L visa is meant to be used by managers or executives of multinational corporations, transferred to a company's US office, that have a minimum of one year's experience with the company. However, companies have been using the L visa to bring in ordinary workers to replace American workers. To make matters worse, American workers often have to train their foreign replacements before being shown the door. Bill Gates was on Capitol Hill recently, asking Congress to raise the cap on the number of guest workers that can be brought in under the H1B visa program (currently set at 65,000). It was disturbing to watch our lawmakers genuflect before him. H1B rules stipulate that companies are only supposed to seek out foreign workers if they can't find qualified Americans for the positions. As I'm sure you can imagine, these rules are often ignored. By the way, there is no cap on the L visa.
John McCain has said that he believes in free trade - & the outsourcing that goes along with it - even more than George Bush does. Free trade has resulted in millions of Americans losing their jobs. The man believes that NAFTA was a good deal for America. McCain also co-sponsored the amnesty legislation (i.e. Comprehensive Immigration Reform) with Ted Kennedy. So my guess is John McCain will be all for maintaining - if not expanding - our guest worker programs. So where do Hillary Clinton & Barak Obama stand on guest worker programs? They've both sent out mixed signals about NAFTA & other free trade deals. They also supported the McCain / Kennedy amnesty plan. Both Clinton & Obama have said that the economy & job creation are top priorities in this campaign. However, someone needs to ask them to spell out their positions on guest worker programs.
It may appear that I'm going off on a tangent here by bringing up illegal immigration & free trade, but I believe that both issues can be tied to guest worker programs. I'm using the candidate's positions on these issues to speculate about where they stand on guest worker programs. The equation that I'm trying to put forth is rather simple:
Free Trade + Guest Worker Programs + Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants = Americans struggling to find / keep good-paying jobs.
George Bush & John McCain would call me a protectionist (as well as a nativist & an isolationist). Nothing could be further from the truth. I simply believe in fair play. I believe in trading with the world, as long as it doesn't cost Americans their jobs. I believe that guest workers should only be brought in after an honest & exhaustive search qualified American workers has resulted in failure. American workers will always be at a disadvantage if they have to compete for jobs with foreign laborers who are willing to accept less in the way of compensation.
If you're in college, you must ask yourself the following questions: Once I graduate, will I be able to find a job in the field that I've trained for? Was the job outsourced? Or did an American company bring in a foreign laborer to take the position? If I do find a job, what are my long-term prospects of keeping it?
More information about all of our visa programs can be found on the website for the San Francisco French-American Chamber of Commerce: http://www.faccsf.com/Services/visa_information.html
I studied immigrant issues quite a bit in college and I came to the opinion that more guest workers programs were needed and that immigrants deserved a chance to make a living too. I still hold this opinion, but I see why it could be necessary to have a cap on the programs. I guess we need more specific legislation to make sure companies stop squeezing people through the loopholes.
www.progressiveu.org/blog/americangirlinchina
I also think we need to start securing the borders before we implement anything corrective. I mean, what's the point if people are still going to flood in and companies are still going to hire undocumented workers. I say, start penalizing companies who break the law, secure the borders, then implement more guest worker programs.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
By all means secure the border and punish the employers. I'm dubious about guest worker programs. They are mainly just a cheap labor subsidy.
I guess they are OK if they focus on bringing in high-end workers. The poor and the bottom end of our middleclass has takes a beating with the mass importation of unskilled workers (mainly illegals) in the last few years. Wages are stagnant when everything else is going through the roof. Those folks need a tight labor market if we are going to keep those people from sinking into third world standars.
I'd also make an exception for agriculture because those may truly be the jobs that Americans won't do. The H1A program already allows the importation of UNLIMITED numbers of agricultural workers. But it is very cumbersome and expensive.
When I saw the title of this blog I thought it was going to discuss all the candidates' positions on the immigration and guestworker issue.
I agree that John McCain is bad. He sponsored the McCain-Kennedy Bill (twice). I am a conservative and I can't stand John McCain mainly because I spent so much time fighting him on the immigration issue.
But both Hillary and Barrack Obama supported the McCain-Kennedy shamnesty bill twice. And on the campaign trail they have given every reason to believe they still support it. That is unlike McCain who now says border enforcement must come first. I think Barrack is particularly reluctant to do anything that would be perceived as strong enforcement. I think he was among those who participated in the May Day marches (Si se puede) last year.
So on this issue our choices are terrible (McCain) and even more awful(Obama).