NPR: Arizona Considers Guest Worker Program

Arizona Considers Guest Worker Program

Some southwestern states, tired of waiting for Washington to do something about fixing the immigration system, have decided to take matters into their own hands.

The Christian Science Monitor reports that the Arizona state legislature is considering its own guest worker program which it would administer rather than the federal government.

"The Arizona legislature is expected on Monday to fast track bills to create a temporary worker program in the state. Even with the backing of top lawmakers, the bills face big hurdles, including sign-off from the feds. But if approved, they would streamline the process for Arizona employers to hire temporary workers from Mexico -- and would serve as a model for national reform, say supporters."

The Arizona program would allow an unlimited number of workers to legally enter the U.S. to work temporarily in Arizona for up to two years if an employer can prove a shortage of labor. Under the current federal program a guest worker can only stay for 10 months. Meanwhile The Associated Press reported recently that Colorado is looking at similar measures for its chili, watermelon and tomato crops.

Critics -- and there are many of them -- say the program won't work because it will stimulate, not stop, illegal immigration. "Once migratory movements start, they become self-perpetuating," says Luis Plascencia, an expert on Mexican migration and guest worker programs at Arizona State University in Tempe.

The current presidential candidates have differing positions on guest worker programs. Hillary Clinton is opposed to them because she thinks they will depress wages for Americans. Barack Obama supports a guest-worker program with a database of workers, arguing it will improve wages and conditions for all workers. John McCain had originally wanted a guest-worker program under his failed immigration reform bill. But during CNN's January 30 Republican presidential debate McCain said he would not support his own program if it now came to a vote on the Senate floor. As a senator from Arizona, it will be interesting to see where he stands on his state legislature's idea.

So tell us what you think. Are state guest worker programs the way to deal with illegal immigration? Or is it just another way to sneak into the U.S.? If so, how do we help employers who say their crops are "rotting in the fields" for lack of workers to pick them?

2:58 PM ET | 03-31-2008 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

A State worker program could help dealing with illegal immigration, since the Federal Government has not been successfull with any type of reform. It is clear that it has been a supply-demand phenomenon for decades.

Sent by Martha R. Overpeck | 4:57 PM ET | 03-31-2008

Pay a living wage!!!!! There is no such thing as jobs no one else will work! This is not the Europe. There is such a thing as dangerous or unfulfilling jobs that no one wants to work for nothing (min wage).

Does anybody understand what it means to say that we NEED CHEAP LABOR? Cheap labor until when? I the answer has no end date then that means that we will always need a permanent underclass! A group of people whose labor will NEED to be exploited. We will always NEED people who can???t get work that will sustain themselves and they???re families. And in turn, we will NEED to keep the great lie on amp, working two or three jobs to buy food at ALDI is the American dream!!! But then, like always people will want to MOVE UP and do BETTER, to achieve the AMERICAN DREAM. And of course we will keep having these issues over and over because each time a group becomes legally un-exploitable (i.e. has legal protections like citizenship for example) we will NEED another group(s) to be CHEAP LABOR! I we don???t watch out we???ll all be CHEAP LABOR!

Sent by fran | 5:08 PM ET | 03-31-2008

The labor shortage in Arizona must be significant if this proposal is coming from a state that has been so adamant about border control. To me, this says that the illegal immigration problem is not defined the same for everyone. This proposal shows the difficulty some industries are having because of not having access to enough immigrant workers. The problem for many others is that there are too many here already. There will be no adequate solution to the "immigration problem" as long as there is no agreement on exactly what the problem is. At least Arizona is taking steps towards the kind of discussion, politically unpopular as it may be, that needs to take place.

Sent by Terry | 7:35 PM ET | 03-31-2008

As our founders intended, the states are to be individual laboratories of Liberty experimenting with all sorts of ways to solve their various problems and other states would follow a good idea if it worked.

Sent by deek | 9:48 PM ET | 03-31-2008

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