Reconsidering a Guest Worker Program

I have done that naughtiest of things: I have flip-flopped. I have concluded that a policy I used to tepidly  favor is, in fact, a poor idea and losing proposition for the Democratic Party. So, now I guess I’m unelectable. Oh well…

The Gordian knot of immigration is the conflict between the GOP’s nativists, Democrats’ low-wage laborers, the GOP’s commercial interests who want cheap foreign  labor, and Democrats’ majority of the Hispanic minority. The conflict over immigration is so intense and it could be used as a wedge issue to pry these interest groups out of their traditional alliegences, at least on this issue, if not permanently.

It appears that the GOP is not about to cut loose the nativists within their party, so they will be required to take a hard line on immigration or face a backlash from their base. This presents an opportunity to wedge the owners/operators of low wage industries desiring cheap foreign labor out of the GOP, and score a major policy victory, regardless of the outcome of the midterm elections, while enhancing our appeal to unskilled labor  and Hispanics. The Bush Administration has been working hard to retain the the cheap labor cohort in their party with slack enforcement and its pursuit of a guest worker  program and permanent status for undocumented immigrants already here. The enforcement record of this Administration is stunningly poor:

"Between 1999 and 2003, work-site enforcement operations were scaledback 95 percent by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, whichsubsequently was merged into the Homeland Security Department. Thenumber of employers prosecuted for unlawfully employing immigrantsdropped from 182 in 1999 to four in 2003, and fines collected declinedfrom $3.6 million to $212,000, according to federal statistics.

In 1999, the United States initiated fines against 417 companies. In 2004, it issued fine notices to three."

Clearly, Bush understands the needs of its cheap labor constituency, and as with all of his other backers, he has treated them very well indeed. The question is whether any GOP Administration or Congressional Caucus will have the luxury of non-enforcement in the future. Likely, not. And the Administration is reacting to the political heat:

"In recent months, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whichsucceeded the INS, has dramatically stepped up enforcement efforts. Itwon 127 criminal convictions last year, up from 46 in 2004, andobtained $15 million in settlements from an investigation of Wal-Martand 12 subcontractors last fall, a spokesman said. Comparable figuresbefore 2003 were not tracked, the agency said.

In the past fewmonths, ICE has led several high-profile actions: against aHouston-based pallet-services company, Maryland restaurateurs andKentucky homebuilders, among others. The activity marks a pronouncedshift in emphasis, after increasing bipartisan criticism."

Nonfeasance seems to no longer be a viable option. The question becomes whether is it good politics for the GOP to change the law to continue making a pool of cheap foreign labor available. The view of the nativists is that this is bad policy; and their view is likely to prevail inside the GOP.

Granting any legal status to undocumented immigrants tends to put them on the path to permanent residency and citizenship; if not for them, then for their children. The majority of these new citizens and voters would be Democrats: increasingly so, as the GOP nativist base becomes more vocal and obnoxious about their alarm over a growing Hispanic-American demographic. Despite its rhetoric about appealing to the ‘traditional values’ of Hispanics, The GOP has no interest in increasing the size of the Hispanic minority in America. This is the reason why a guest worker program is heavily favored by business-oriented Republicans: they are triangulating their interests with the desire of the nativist base to prevent the growth of the Hispanic-American minority. Guest workers  give the GOP cheap workers without the headaches of having to figure out how to disenfranchise them or strip them of their labor rights.

The best reason in the world for Democrats to oppose a guest worker  program is that such a program allows cheap labor business interests to attempt a reconciliation with the nativists within the GOP coalition; we should avoid such a settlement at all costs. We should demand that all undocumented workers be put on a path to citizenship or permanent residence, and that all temporary foreign  workers be given the exact same legal labor protections as American workers (minimum wage, 40 hour week, disability, labor organization rights, etc.) We should absolutely oppose any guest worker program that creates a class of laborers that receives  any less protection under the law. This would protect the rights of American workers, provide more humane conditions for temporary workers, and lessen the demand for undocumented workers by cheap labor businesses. slowing immigration and reducing the influence of the nativists.

Opposing a guest worker  program would tend to create more Hispanic-American citizens: and that’s good for America, and the Democratic Party. Opposing a guest worker  program will help retain low-wage American workers in the Democratic coalition, and remove some of the relentless race to the bottom and wage suppression  they have been experiencing. Opposing a guest worker  program will strengthen the nativist faction of the GOP temporarily, ultimately driving business interests to align with the Democratic Party to achieve a second-best solution of full legal labor protections in exchange for temporary workers. We can successfully wedge low-wage industry out of the GOP coalition on this issue, and gain much more protection for immigrants and American workers if we oppose a guest worker  program than if we blindly support it.

Our party’s endemic failure to frame the issues has led many Democratic politicians to reflexively endorse a guest worker  program. They see the clear need of our economy for this labor and they are willing to supply it, and rightfully so. However, a guest worker  program implies carving out exceptions to generally applicable labor and immigration laws. This is a losing proposition for Democrats. We need to stick by the working class, regardless of their immigration status, and make sure that all workers in America have the same legal rights and protections. That is the only frame that will make immigration a winning issue for the Democratic Party.