The Role of Guest Workers in the American Economy

The United States has more than a half-century’s experience with dealing with guest-worker programs. The first dates back to the World War II-era Bracero Program that allowed Mexican laborers to come to the U.S. to work on the nation’s farms and railroads.   Simply put, a guest-worker program allows a foreign worker to enter the country for a specified period of time to fill a specific job. Industries with surges in labor needs, such as agriculture and tourism, often hire guest workers to fill seasonal positions. The Basics   A guest worker must return to his homeland after  the term of his temporary commitment has expired.  Technically, thousands of  U.S. non-immigrant visa holders  are guest workers. The government gave out  55,384 H-2A visas  to temporary agriculture workers in 2011, which helped U.S. farmers deal with seasonal demands that year. Another 129,000 H-1B visas went out to workers in â€Å"specialty occupations† such as engineering, math, architecture, medicine and health. The government also gives out a maximum 66,000 H2B visas to foreign workers in seasonal, non-agricultural jobs. The Bracero Program Controversy   Perhaps the most controversial U.S. guest-worker initiative was the Bracero Program that ran from 1942 through 1964. Drawing its name from the Spanish word for â€Å"strong arm,† the Bracero Program brought millions of Mexican workers into the country to compensate for labor shortages in the U.S. during World War II. The program was poorly run and poorly regulated. Workers were often exploited and forced to endure shameful conditions. Many simply abandoned the program, migrating to the cities to become part of the first wave of post-war illegal immigration. The abuses of Braceros provided inspiration for a number of folk artists and protest singers during the period, including Woody Guthrie and Phil Ochs. Mexican-American labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez started his historic movement for reform  in response to the abuses suffered by the Braceros. Guest-Worker Plans in Comprehensive Reform Bills Critics of guest-worker programs argue that it’s virtually impossible to run them without widespread worker abuses. They contend that the programs are inherently given to exploitation and to  creating an under-class of servile workers, tantamount to legalized slavery. In general, guest-worker programs arent meant for  highly skilled workers or for  those with advanced college degrees. But despite past problems, the expanded use of guest workers was  a key aspect of the  comprehensive immigration reform legislation  that Congress considered for much of the last decade. The idea was to give U.S. businesses a steady, reliable stream of temporary labor in exchange for tighter border controls to keep illegal immigrants out. The Republican National  Committee’s 2012 platform called for creating guest-worker programs to satisfy the needs of U.S. businesses. President George W. Bush made the same proposal in 2004. Democrats have been reluctant to  endorse the programs because of the past abuses, but their resistance waned when faced with President Barack  Obama’s strong desire to get a comprehensive reform bill passed in his second term. President Donald Trump has said that he wants to limit foreign workers.   The National Guestworker Alliance   The National Guestworker Alliance (NGA) is a New Orleans-based membership group for guest  workers. Its goal is to organize workers across the country  and to prevent exploitation. According the  NGA,  the group seeks to â€Å"partner with local workers  Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚  employed and unemployed  Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚  to strengthen U.S. social movements for racial and economic justice.†