On Jan. 7, 2004, President George W. Bush proposed a new temporary worker program in an effort to reform the U.S. immigration system. However, this program will create confusion among immigrants. Moreover, it will not give undocumented workers permanent residency—what they have truly struggled to achieve—according to various groups that advocate for immigrants’ rights in New York.
“This is a program that doesn’t give any true hope. It will make the road to deportation an easier one. It’s not a solution to the problems with the nation’s immigration system. This is an election year, and Latinos should not be deceived,” affirmed Margaret McHugh, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, an umbrella policy organization for more than 150 New York groups that work with immigrants and refugees.
Together with McHugh, representatives from the Latino community including Moisés Pérez, director of the Dominican Alliance (Alianza Dominicana), Guillermo Chacón of the National Network of Salvadorian Americans (la Red Nacional de Salvadoreños Americanos) and Vicente Mayorga, a representative from the United Front of Ecuadorian Immigrants (Frente Unido de Inmigrantes Ecuatorianos), indicated that the Bush Administration’s new resolution lets immigrants know that they are welcome in the United States to work and to pay taxes, but afterwards, they will have to head back to their native countries.
According to Bush’s reform, foreign workers who currently reside in the country without any documentation and who register under the program will receive a work permit for three years, which can only be renewed one time for three additional years. The work permit would also authorize workers to enter and exit the country as if they were legal residents. All of this is contingent on the foreign workers being sponsored by employers, and the absence of American workers to carry out the job.
Mayorga assured us that he would prefer to remain an undocumented worker instead of facilitating his own deportation after a possible six-year stance, which would happen if he were to register for the program. The Ecuadorian activist said that he’s been separated from his family for 10 years, and he yearns to attain permanent residency so that he can be reunited with his loved ones.
“I myself have suffered exploitation and injustices. The plight of undocumented workers is serious, and we want one solution from Congress: permanent residency.”
Activists indicated that Bush’s proposal is “inhumane,” because it doesn’t value the contributions that immigrants make to the country with their hard work.
“[Bush’s proposal] doesn’t even resolve the problems that afflict undocumented workers—especially Latinos—who have the highest incidence of labor-related exploitation. [These workers receive] low salaries, and they don’t have health insurance or benefits,” said Pérez.
During the press conference, Chacón expressed his worries about the confusion that the proposal could engender within immigrant communities. He claimed that Bush’s proposal is like an “empty piñata” that creates expectations, but delivers nothing. Chacón also described the president’s actions as a tactic to win the upcoming election.
In contrast, the director of the Center for Latino Workers (Centro de Trabajadores Latinos), Monica Santana, supported Bush’s initiative, indicating that it marks the beginning of the road to legalization, and that it guarantees immigrants who currently live “clandestine” lives the right to become documented residents.
“No other proposal that we’ve seen so far guarantees that a person will be made a resident in less time. This program makes it possible for a worker to enter into the very system that could eventually guarantee them permanent residency,” Santana pointed out. She also stated that Bush’s proposal is an “offshoot” of the McCain-Kolbe-Flake plan that was presented last year before Congress, which included more security in border zones and an improvement in the country’s immigration system.
