Amy Taylor

The Lure of the Job

We've heard a lot of talk these days about the immigrants who sneak across the border and "break the rules." Sure, it is widely understood that immigrant workers are crossing the border to earn money here that they cannot earn at home. The economic conditions in their home countries are a strong "push factor" for immigration to the U.S. But there are forces going unrecognized that help "pull" immigrant workers here too --for example, big business. Many workers are lured into this country by companies in need of a compliant labor pool willing to accept wages unsatisfactory to most American workers.

In 2000, managers at Nebraska Beef were arrested for luring undocumented workers to its plant from Texas and Mexico with promises of well-paid jobs and free housing. The case was dismissed when all of the potential witnesses were deported. It is common practice for slaughterhouses to run radio advertisements across Latin America to lure workers to jobs. These companies not only promise jobs but will actually bus workers from Mexico straight to the Midwestern states were the plants are located. Tyson, the world's largest meat producer, was indicted in 2001 for human trafficking in a scheme to bring undocumented workers into the U.S. to its plants. In 2005, Wal-Mart settled a suit with 345 undocumented janitorial workers who had been denied overtime pay and injury compensation. Some of the workers, who were all deported, were lured to the Wal-Mart jobs from a website promising well-paid jobs in the United States.

The House of Representatives has gotten busy in Washington working on legislation to secure the border without any effort to address the situation of the 12 million undocumented immigrants who already live here. This type of legislation disregards the fact that there are many complex forces that have brought about the current situation besides the "lawbreakers." The House of Representative's latest efforts around immigration reform are a mere band-aid to the real broken system in this country. Surely any comprehensive plan must include border control, but any plan that leaves out the workers already living here, and those who will be lured here in the future, will fix nothing. Companies will continue to lure in this low-wage workforce necessary to hold up our economy unless we pass real immigration reform.

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Posted at 11:02 AM, Sep 20, 2006 in Immigration | Labor
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