Undocumented workers may no longer need to hide or live underground. In the temporary worker program proposal unveiled yesterday by President Bush, he announced his intention to issue temporary status to workers and allow them to travel freely between the United States and their home countries. Although it is obvious that the president mainly targets the more than four million undocumented Mexican immigrants in the nation, in the Chinese community—which is also growing quickly since the smuggling tide started in the late 80s—Bush’s proposal immediately became a hot issue prompting vehement discussion.
The offer doesn’t meet the demand
In the proposal, President Bush specified that the temporary worker status is valid for three years, and can be renewed once for another three years. But it is not a transition to the green card. After the three- to six-year term expires, the worker has to go back to his or her own country. Bush also emphasized his position against amnesty.
“It is an insult to immigrant communities,” said Dan Smulian, director of training and legal services at the New York Immigration Coalition. “It is actually saying that you are good enough to work here, but not good enough to stay here.” Smulian said, for most of the immigrants who put their lives at stake and crossed the U.S. border to pursue their American dream, what they need most is not a temporary visa but a green card. But Bush’s proposal, by sending workers home after three or six years, has left them with little hope. Smulian also pointed out that immigrants should think twice before they register for the program: do they want to give all their information to the government so they can be easily tracked down and sent back?
May Chen, the international vice president of the garment workers union UNITE!, agrees. Chen, who helped organize the Immigrant Worker’s Freedom Ride this past summer, when millions of immigrant workers traveled across the country calling for equal rights, said that temporary worker status is not what immigrant workers demand. What they really need is amnesty. Chen explained that the temporary worker status may delay the green card application process and even rob immigrants of the chance to apply for a green card.
Not helpful to labor market
How will issuing undocumented workers' temporary worker status affect the labor market? Hua Li, an advocate from the Chinese Workers Association, said, theoretically it would help promote equal rights. “If all the workers have status and can work legally, employers would not be able to exploit undocumented workers by ignoring the minimum salary limit and offer them extremely low pay,” said Li. In reality, it will work in the opposite way, she added. “There are always the new immigrants coming to the country who won’t be issued a worker’s visa immediately. So the ‘second class’ labor pool won’t disappear, and employers will still be able to take advantage of them,” said Li.
“The proposal is a big gift to employers,” said Chen. According to the proposal, the only way to get a temporary worker status for undocumented immigrants is to be sponsored by employers. “It gives the reins to the employers so they can have tight control over the workers,” commented Chen.
Political gesture
With the presidential election approaching, some community leaders interpreted Bush’s proposal as a campaign strategy. “Bush talked about amnesty when he campaigned for his first term four years ago. He forgot it right after he was elected. Now he is campaigning for his second term,” said Margaret Chan, deputy director of Asian Americans for Equality. Chan pointed out that the president hasn’t shown his support for the DREAM Act, which would offer permanent status to undocumented students who grow up in the United States, nor has he supported the AgJob Act, which calls for green cards to be issued to undocumented agricultural workers. “These two bills have been debated for a long time and the House still hasn’t put them on the voting agenda,” said Chan. “If the president really cares for immigrants, he should help to pass these bills rather than play the ‘temporary worker status’ game,” said Chan.
Despite the criticism from advocates, undocumented immigrants in East Broadway, Chinatown are excited after reading the proposal in the Chinese newspapers. Although the media clarified that the president opposes amnesty, many undocumented immigrants in Chinatown still refer to the proposal as “amnesty.” “I think I’d better pre-register with a lawyer,” said Tony Liu, a Chinese immigrant who was smuggled into the United States three years ago. “Otherwise, I may not be able to meet the quota when the program starts.”
“We do have the experience that when things start, there will always be leeway. It is not amnesty now, but who knows in the future,” said Weihua Wang, the president of the American Fujianese Benevolence Association, an organization representing immigrants from the Fujian Province on the south coast of China, where most undocumented Chinese immigrants come from. Wang said, even if Bush is playing a political trick, most Fujianese immigrants believe the proposal holds hope for legal status. “It is good enough to draw ballots from the Fujianese,” said Wang.
