Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Mercy Not Sacrifice

Home
About
My Book
Archives
More
- Theology
- Culture
- Politics
- Sermons
- Bible
- Devotions
- Daily Office
- Podcast

Home
Progressive Christian
The visa that would fix our immigration system

The visa that would fix our immigration system

Last updated on: February 17, 2017 at 11:20 am by Morgan Guyton

The visa that would fix our immigration system 2017-02-17T11:20:44-05:00 Morgan Guyton

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design

Fifteen years ago, I worked for the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), a mostly Latino immigrant labor union. We were part of a coalition of immigrant rights organizations that developed an immigration reform proposal in consultation with Congressman Luis Gutierrez called the DREAM Act which had a goal of normalizing the immigration status of the undocumented immigrants living in the US as well as creating a sustainable system for the future. It’s never been passed, but it’s the basis for calling undocumented immigrant youth “dreamers.”

A big part of the DREAM Act would involve addressing a huge gap in our immigration system that is the cause of most of the cases of undocumented immigration. We need a temporary worker visa that allows workers to operate as independent contractors, which most undocumented immigrants are already doing. They are the most tenacious entrepreneurs in our economy.

Right now, the only visa available to blue collar immigrant workers is the H-2. H-2 visas are mostly granted for seasonal workers, usually in agriculture. US farmers apply for a quantity of H-2 visas to hire workers from abroad. The workers’ visa is contingent upon their employment with the employer who applied for the visa. This creates an indentured servitude condition for workers under this visa program since they can’t quit their jobs if living or work conditions are unacceptable. A tremendous amount of abuse has resulted in the agricultural industry.

It’s not just a potentially abusive situation. It’s completely impractical. When workers migrate, they need to have the flexibility to switch between jobs. What happens if the climate causes the bell pepper harvest to be a bust but the Christmas tree farms are doing okay? Migrant workers are naturally going to leave the bell pepper fields for the tree farms, but if their H-2 is tied to the bell pepper farmer, they become “illegal” when they do that, even though the bell pepper farmer has no way to pay them for doing work that is nonexistent.

What would happen if instead of having a visa tied to a particular employer, temporary workers could enter the country with the expectation that they would be freelancing as independent contractors, which is what inevitably happens anyway? Right now, many undocumented immigrants have to check in on a regular basis with the local ICE office, knowing every time that they might get deported. A temporary worker visa could be contingent upon a regular check-in with ICE. Those who check in and can demonstrate gainful employment could be granted visa renewals. Those who don’t check in are the ones who would potentially have something to hide and thus make themselves candidates for deportation.

One of the major issues with immigration right now is the coyote system by which undocumented immigrants are smuggled in. They have to pay thousands of dollars for each border crossing under this system. Often these thousands of dollars are “paid” in the form of debt to a contractor crew chief who is able to hold the debt over them and exploit their labor for years into the future. The same networks that smuggle people are also smuggling drugs. The more we fortify the border, the more valuable we make the business of the coyotes and drug smugglers.

We’re not going to be able to cut them off with a wall. They mostly use tunnels already anyway. We’re just going to make their work more sophisticated and more profitable. Nobody will be able to scramble through the desert on their own anymore. They’ll have to pay the coyote who has a connection inside the Border Patrol. The most money is going to be made by corrupt ICE officials who give the coyotes their windows. The best way to eliminate the power of coyotes is to create a legal, above-board means for unconnected blue collar independent contractors to come and go between the US and our southern neighbors according to the ebb and flow of jobs the way it works in the European Union.

Immigrants would save thousands of dollars if there were a legal way to cross the border and work in the US, even if they were charged a fee of hundreds of dollars to subsidize the overhead for ICE supervision of a temporary worker visa. If crossing the border didn’t cost a fortune, it would completely disincentivize the permanent migration of workers’ families to the US. You can live way better in Mexico for way cheaper than the US. I know one undocumented immigrant family who lives in a trailer park in the US but owns a 4000 square foot home in Mexico. The only reason to bring your whole family up to the US to live in a trailer park is if you can’t go back and forth across the border without paying thousands of dollars according to the ebb and flow of the temporary labor market.

It’s unsustainable to have a system that incentivizes perpetual permanent migration to the US. If instead our system incentivized migratory work, then workers could come to the US seasonally and return home to Latin America every year. They would split their income between the US and their home countries, which could bring our economies to equilibrium so that perhaps one day in the distant future, US workers would be just as likely to migrate south as Latin American workers would be to migrate north.

I know I’m not an economics expert. I may have some of my facts confused since it’s been so many years since I was giving regular presentations on this topic. But it’s ridiculous that we can’t have a rational, practical conversation about this topic that simply looks at the causes of human migratory patterns and seeks to incentivize the most optimal social behavior. Instead, we’ve been completely distracted by fear and pseudo-moralism. My hope is that after the political Chernobyl that Donald Trump leaves behind, whatever is left of the Republican Party will be much more capable of having pragmatic, problem-solving conversations about complicated issues like immigration. Maybe we’ll get this done in 2021.

Previous Post

February 14, 2017

The revolution will not be built on white shame

Next Post

February 20, 2017 Is the Eucharist more powerful than an executive order?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Beauty Will Save the World Bible Big Picture: Ephesians Bloggers Book Christian salvation and the Beautitudes Culture Daily Office Danceable Homiletics Deadly Sins Deep Roots: Genesis Devotions Dominican Republic May 2011 El Principio Misericordia (The Mercy Principle) Five verses God tattooed on my heart Fundraising FutureGospel Good Biblical Words Henri Nouwen Interview Jennings' Christian Imagination Jesus inside the beltway Jesus Is My Candidate Jesus vs the Pharisees Jesus vs. Plato Journey to Eternity Looking Back on 2012 Love Actually Monday Merton Monday Merton Music Occupy the manger On Earth As It Is In Heaven Original Sin Podcast Poetry Politics Prayer Psalm 119 Radical Jesus 101 Reviews Sermon on the Mount Sermons Spanish Bible study Special Series Spiritual but not religious Synchroblog Theology Things that made me think Thomas a Kempis Ugliness Into Beauty Uncategorized Viaje Dominicano 2013 Walking in the Valley (Lent) Welcome: It's More than a Mat Wild Goose 2013 Wrestling

Select a Month March 2022 January 2022 December 2021 September 2021 April 2021 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was David's great-grandmother?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Tamar Rahab Ruth Bathsheba