PUNTO FINAL! FIXING IMMIGRATION: SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER

• Published in: The Hispanic outlook in higher education 2005-04, Vol.15 (15), p.60
• Main Author: Gonzales-Berry, Erlinda
• Format: Magazinearticle
• Language: English
• Subjects: Employers; Federal government; Government; Immigration; Immigration policy; Labor; Labor force; Labor relations; Law; Migrant workers; Migration; Noncitizens; Principals; Social Action
• ISSN: 1054-2337; 2471-6448

So long as the economy is good, most Americans are willing to ignore the topic. But when the going gets tough economically, or the nation's sense of hegemony is threatened, there is a tendency to construe immigrants, our most visible and vulnerable "other," as a public danger. This unleashes hostility toward immigrants and is followed by vitriolic calls for deportation and closing borders (see, for example, the documentary, Farmville). Feeling the pinch of contradictory pressures, our national leaders frantically search for solutions. They find especially attractive a plan that would please those who oppose and those who need immigration, a plan that would let us have the proverbial cake and eat it too: a guest worker program. However, history teaches us that guest worker programs are fraught with potential for human rights abuses and exploitation of workers. The Bracero Program of the '40s-'60s was decried by labor unions, religious groups, and social reform organizations as little more than "legalized slavery." Further, a fundamental principal of American society has been that if individuals are willing to pay their dues, they deserve citizenship.