Immigration Overhaul?

Better late than never, I suppose. It appears that the Bush administration is taking baby steps toward an overhaul to the U.S. immigration system, but lots of important details are still murky, like what about those 12 million undocumented living in the U.S. right now? We cannot incarcerate them all, and the border crack down continues to encourage those who are here illegally to stay put.

But can the Bush team say "path to citizenship"? Although it has been clear from the start that this is what the President wants, he seems a bit gun shy (if that is possible of a Texan). For now, the administration is asking the undocumented "come out of the shadows." Hmmm. To do what? Get an all-expense paid vacation to Raymondville, Texas? As the L.A. Times reports:

The administration's priority is to secure the nation's borders and convince the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to "come out of the shadows," Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"I'm not sure that everyone wants to be a U.S. citizen. Many just want to be able to work, and if they can work legally, one day they would like to go back home," he said. "So I don't think that citizenship is what will make them come out of the shadows."

But, what will make people come out of the shadows, Mr. Gutierrez? Certainly not your current course of action.

On a similiar, and extremely ironic note, Colorado has been looking for a way to address their labor shortages now that ICE is busy rounding up immigrants and locking them in interment camps. Can you guess who they're using? They're going to use convicts as farmworkers! Isn't that a grand idea--let's take law abiding workers (albeit undocumented ones) and replace them with convicts.

Gee, I can only imagine how happy the folks in Colorado are going to be about having REAL convicted criminals out in the fresh air picking their fruits and veggies. That is a much safer alternative to having an undocumented person do it. I'm sure the average citizen in Colorado will be much safer with this program. The farmers are sure to be thrilled about this--free labor with no labor rights. It doesn't get much sweeter than this.

What a relief to know that we have America's brightest and best finding solutions to this problem.

Florida Business Leaders to Push for Immigration Reform

We may be in the midst of a turning point on immigration reform: it appears that business leaders in Florida, much like those in Texas, have decided "on the need for a louder and more unified Florida business voice to pressure politicians in Washington." Those business leaders, many of whom work in the tourist industry, believe that comprehensive reform, including temporary work visas and legalization of workers who are currently undocumented, is essential to the U.S. economy.

The New Face of Landscaping

When I was doing research in Mexico in 1999, my colleague Payal noticed a trend in the immigrant labor market. The undocumented and newest arrivals to the U.S. generally had the worst jobs: they picked mushrooms or fruit, made the least money, and aspired to move into one of two better sources of employment: construction and "la yarda."

La yarda is Spanglish for Landscaping. This article from today's Washington Post outlines the racial transformation of this industry. Most landscapers in the early 1990s employed African Americans; today the field is dominated by Latinos, although their bosses are typically Anglo.

The article highlights a trend in low-wage industries: African Americans and other citizens are unlikely to work under the conditions required for some low-wage jobs (see my post on African Americans and the chicken processing industry from January 17, 2007). Latinos, particularly the undocumented, have "soft skills," like obedience and willingness to work under substandard conditions, that make them more attractive to business owners. Within a relatively short period of time, employers will seek Latinos, believing they are inherently better workers, effectively shutting out African Americans and others who might be interested in doing the work, but they also would be interested in demanding their rights.

What would happen to the labor market, I wonder, if the U.S. were able to effectively end the hiring undocumented immigrants, such as through a national I.D. card? Would documented Latinos still be "ideal" employees, or would that change once they were not longer vulnerable and without recourse?