Why Guest Workers are a Bad Idea?

Bush’s Comprehensive Immigration Plan includes a temporary work permit or guest worker program. In our personal lives, yes we want guests to leave as soon as possible, but is that really good for a nation? When people come here on a temporary basis for a short period of time, they come in legally, but they come in with a mindset to make money, live disconnected and “go back home”. So what’s wrong with that? Well, let’s look at the economical, social and historical aspects of this.

First, on the economical front, let’s address the issue of social security. As temporary workers get paid should they pay social security taxes? Note that the way the system works is that you pay for retired people today hoping that you’ll be taken care of when it is your time. If these people are not going to even be here, should they be paying social security taxes? Is a sizable population not paying into social security a good thing? If people instead are given the option to become permanent, we can ethically, collect social security taxes. Another economical aspect is all the money that guest workers will have to invest outside the country to have a secure landing when they go back, including buying property and owning homes. Wouldn’t it be better to encourage them to invest locally? Finally, their temporary mindset will keep them from buying a home here and participating in all the buying and spending that comes with owning a home.

On the social front, a temporary stay provides no motivation to assimilate. Lack of assimilation will require accommodations on part of the majority like multi-lingual education, special job selection programs and other affirmative action. Forcing them to be temporary, can we really require them to assimilate and learn skills that will be useless or even detrimental when they return? Moreover, we cannot separate them from their families or prevent them from having one during their stay. This will not take away stress from public education and other systems that support basic family needs and will also not stop illegal immigration as their family members will have no legal ways to immigrate. We’ll also have to readdress the difficult issue of separating locally formed families when it comes time for the breadwinner to leave. This will be the biggest issue of a temporary worker program. Another social issue is that all legal temporary immigrants will pay taxes but will have no representation and no right to participate in any political or community process. This will over time undoubtedly result in isolation, resentment and distrust.

Historically, temporary work programs like the Bracero program and other programs created to address temporary worker shortages have first caused large groups of illegal immigrants as several overstay as their roots do sprout here and at the same time disappear from where they came from. Secondly, these programs, intentionally or not, have been targeted at one race or another and when it comes time to enforce removing these workers, it has resulted in racial tensions due to several permanent and even native born citizens of that race, “caught and released”. The handling of these types of programs does not constitute a proud part of American history.

Hope may be the most important ingredient of peace and prosperity. A right to stay, a right to participate and a right to dream may be snatched away from thousands who are treated as temporary residents. A temporary worker program may solve immediate issues and appease some specific groups for now, but is a problem seed that we are sowing for a much larger problem for another generation to solve. We must treat immigration the good old way, where people came here to live for good and participate in the grander process, not just for quick money or fill some employer's greed. The right to leave ones birth country and live in a country of choosing to correct the accident of birth, is a basic human right.