The Charade Guest Worker Program

President Bush has been pushing hard for a temporary guest worker program for illegal aliens. The Senate Judiciary Committee is now debating the various forms this program should take. Proposals included issuing worker permits good for 3 - 6 years, renewable; some proposals requiring the worker to return to their country for a year, then applying for permanent status & eventually citizenship; others allowing the worker to remain & follow the same citizenship path. Businesses & immigrant advocates are all for a guest worker program. Whatever the Senate may conjure up as a program, it will be a disaster for the nation.

The White House issued forth this part of Bush's plan:

"The President proposes that the Federal Government offer temporary worker status to undocumented men and women now employed in the United States and to those in foreign countries who have been offered employment here. The workers under temporary status must pay a one-time fee to register in the program, abide by the rules, and return home after their period of work expires. There would be an opportunity for renewal. In the future, only people outside the U.S. may join the temporary worker program, and there will be an orderly system in place to address the needs of workers and companies.

American Workers Come First: Employers must make every reasonable effort to find an American to fill a job before extending job offers to foreign workers.
Workplace Enforcement of Immigration Laws: Enforcement against companies that break the law and hire illegal workers will increase.
Economic Incentives to Return Home: The U.S. will work with other countries to allow aliens working in the U.S. to receive credit in their nations' retirement systems and will support the creation of tax-preferred savings accounts they can collect when they return to their native countries.
Fair and Meaningful Citizenship Process: Some temporary workers will want to remain in America and pursue citizenship. They should not receive an unfair advantage over those who have followed the law, and they will need to be placed in line for citizenship behind those who are already in line. Those who choose the path of citizenship will have an obligation to learn the facts and ideals that have shaped America's history."

This is all meaningless mumbo jumbo. Sounds nice, but with 11-20 million illegals in the country, the program is doomed to failure. Some things to consider:

* Do you really think Business will make every effort to find an American to fill a job, when they are free to pay paltry wages to illegals?
* Three businesses were charged last year for hiring illegals. This is enforcement?
* As happened in the past, workers savings accounts in foreign countries have been prone to disappear by their corrupt governments.
* The notion that some workers will want to remain in the country & pursue citizenship is ridiculous. Try almost all of these workers will want to remain. Big deal - they have to learn what shaped America's history. What a tough requirement on the road to citizenship.

Further points to consider:

* How many guests workers? 500,000? 1,000,000? What do we do with the rest of the 11-20 million still illegal? Or do we make them all guest workers?
* What about family? Can they stay as well? Or ship them out? If they stay, they are just adding to the drain of social services by them.
* What about children born to "guest workers"? They US citizens, as it stands now by law? If so, Christ himself could not deport "guest workers" after their permit expires.
* What happens when "guest workers" must leave at the end of their permit? Will they leave. Don't count on it. They are not going to go back to poverty in their country. They'll stay & again become the illegals they started out as. Their is enough evidence that thousands of tourists on visas overstay its expiration & become illegals. And they haven't even established roots in this country.
* What happens when they lose their job? Can they have a work permit that allows them to go job to job? If not, they become illegals again.
* Will they be required to pay into social security, declare exemptions & follow other taxation laws? Will Businesses be required to stop paying them "under the table"?
* Will the Federal government establish minimum wage criteria for woefully under-paid & exploited guest workers?
* Will guest workers be eligible for health care, workers comp, unemployment benefits, etc?
* How will the Federal government identify each guest worker? What documentation will be required from them? Many illegals live with false i.d.'s
* The program allows those in the country after a certain period to apply for guest worker status. How does the Federal government determine when they got here?

This is just the tip of the iceberg floating towards the ship of state Titanic.

Business, Congressmen, the President & others perpetuate the myth of "jobs Americans won't do". The reality is that business is looking at the profit bottom line - cheap labor. A Mexican coming from his poverty ridden country is glad to make the $5 an hour, that would otherwise cost business $8-$12 if an American worked it. This country is perpetuating a profit driven worker underclass.

Before any "guest worker" program is considered, first the borders must be aggressively & completely controlled to stop the flow of illegals, criminals & potential terrorists, otherwise the guest worker program will be meaningless. Second, Businesses employing illegals should be specifically targeted with criminal & civil charges - not just the 3 a year businesses to date. Third, minimum wages should be mandatory in the agricultural business & other cooly-wage paying businesses. "Under the table" salaries should be ended with strict enforcement.
Then maybe we can consider some type of limited guest worker program.

An unfettered guest worker program will become a bureaucratic nightmare with a budget in the billions, wrought with fraud & corruption. The Federal government has already admitted that it's tracking databases are a joke & will not even begin to be ready by 2010.

It is time to back off on all the talk about a guest worker program until the problem of illegal immigration is dealt with. Such a program is amnesty by another name.