The Wrong Kind of Host

Last night, President Bush made another pitch for his guest-worker program. Given the extremism shown by the House in its immigration bill, this may seem like a moderate position in the current debate. It is not.

As an aside--although perhaps a telling one--the phrase "guest worker" is an oxymoron, like "guest host" on the old Tonight Show. If someone is a guest, you don't make him work. If he's a worker, he's not your guest--he is, or at least should be, paid.

Temporary work permits (which is what "guest workers" really have) create a permanent underclass that is all the more destructive because its members constantly shift as people come and go across the border. Immigrants who have temporary worker status depress wages for other employees. They are always vulnerable to exploitation, because if they stand up for their rights they will lose their rights and be deported. Even if temporary workers have a right to legal redress for abuse, it will almost certainly come too late, because they will long since have been forced to return to their home countries. (If you doubt that, consider this: The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals recently concluded that Smithfield Packing engaged in unfair labor practices in opposing a unionization drive, nine years after the fact.)

Anyone admitted to the United States (other than tourists, students and other temporary entrants who have no intention of staying) should have a way to become permanent residents and, ultimately, citizens. If we want such people to be assets to the nation's civic culture, rather than wage-serfs, we need to give them an incentive to become part of American society, rather than condemning them to years in the shadows.