This article is from March 2004. It’s interesting because the common theme on Guest Worker Programs back to the early 1900’s is they don’t work and do nothing to stop the entry of illegal aliens.

One of the points you always hear about is President Reagan issued the huge amnesty in 1986. Do you know who stuck an amendment into the bill resulting in the amnesty?

snip……Over the ensuing five years as the various versions of what would become the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) worked its way though the legislative process, no issue proved to be more difficult or controversial than efforts to add a guestworker program for agricultural workers to the bill. Numerous efforts were made. Indeed, after failing to pass Congress in both 1982 and 1984, it appeared that the legislation would die in 1986 for this very reason.22 It passed only after the adoption of an extremely controversial amendment offered by Rep. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) that eventually would give permanent resident alien status (a green card) to any person who could prove he or she had worked in perishable agriculture for 90 days between May 1, 1985, and May 1, 1986. It was, in reality, a second amnesty added to the general amnesty provided for elsewhere in the legislation. The provision set off a firestorm of protest but it was given a debate rule that prohibited any changes in this particular provision to be made on the House floor. Representatives opposed to the compromise had only one choice: kill the whole reform package or accept this amendment as is. The idea could not withstand a vote on its own merits. Despite such criticism, the amendment enabled IRCA to be passed and signed into law by President Reagan in 1986. As a consequence, this adjustment program ? known as the Special Agricultural Workers program (SAW) ? led to 1.2 million persons applying for its adjustment of status benefits. Of these, 997,000 applications were approved. The number of applicants far exceeded anyone?s estimation of the number who would be eligible. The explanation for the large number of applicants was the widespread usage of fraudulent documents that were used to claim eligibly. Indeed, The New York Times described the SAW program as being “one of the most extensive immigration frauds ever perpetrated against the United States government.”23

Yes, it was Charles Shumer who hijacked the whole bill and created that amnesty. Can you imagine the NYT’s ever writing anything like this today? Not a chance.

There was a bipartison commission (editor: yes another investigation to be ignored) created called “Commission on Immigration Reform (CIR) which studied and studied and studied for 6 years. Know what they found? Pretty much the same thing found back in 1950’s.

1. “Guestworker programs have depressed wages.”

2. Those whose wages are most adversely affected are “unskilled American workers, including recent immigrants who may have originally entered to perform needed labor but who can be displaced by newly entering guestworkers.”

3. “Foreign guestworkers often are more exploitable than a lawful U.S. worker, particularly when an employer threatens deportation if workers complain about wages or working conditions.”

4. “The presence of large numbers of guestworkers in particular localities ? such as rural counties with agricultural interests ? presents substantial costs in housing, healthcare, social services, schooling, and basic infrastructure that are borne by the broader community and even by the federal government rather than by the employers who benefit from inexpensive labor.”

5. “Guestworker programs also fail to reduce unauthorized migration” [because] “they tend to encourage and exacerbate illegal movements that persist long after the guest programs end.” ?[and]? “guestworkers themselves often remain permanently and illegally in the country in violation of the conditions of their admission.”

Conclusion after 100 years and numerous studies on Guest Worker Programs?

The heart of the problem is that guestworker programs seek to reconcile two sharply conflicting goals: the need to protect citizen workers from the competition of foreign workers who are willing to work for wages and in conditions that few citizens would tolerate versus the wishes of some employers who rely on labor-intensive production and service techniques to secure a plentiful supply of low-cost workers. In addition, there are always unforeseen side effects that harm the wider society.

snip……Except in national emergencies, guestworker programs are bad public policy. They may meet the short-term pleas of private interest groups, but they can never meet the higher standard of being public policies that serve the national interest.

Center for Immigration Studies

Tony Blankley has an outstanding editorial today: Mexican illegals vs. American voters. The polls have consistently told our Legislators we the American public are overwhelmingly in favor of tougher enforcement on illegal aliens. Yet, our legislators ignore us.

The Senate is attempting to legislate into the teeth of the will of the American public. The Senate Judiciary Committeemen ( and probably a majority of the Senate ) are convinced that they know that the American people don’t know what is best for them.