| Illegal Economy
Wal-Mart immigration sting leads to policy changes
by Briana Olson
"Wal-Mart's commitment to diversity is getting noticed," reads a story
on Wal-Mart News, the company's self-laudatory news site. The author
referred to products offered at Wal-Mart stores in celebration of
Hispanic Heritage Month, but the news of an investigation of the
corporation's complicity in contracting illegal immigrants, many of them
Mexican, has made far more headlines than the addition of specialized
calendars to their shelves. Some 250 illegal immigrants arrested on
October 23, when the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(BICE) orchestrated a successful sting operation at Wal-Mart stores
across the nation, have been released and await invitations to return to
immigration court. According to Garrison Courtney of BICE, decisions on
their individual cases could take years. The case against Wal-Mart could
take as long.
In the unlikely event that all 250 janitorial workers are deported
within a year's time, 250,000 others will have arrived (or become
illegal due to the expiration of a visa) to take their places in the
lowest paid sectors of our economy. Approximately 8 million people
reside illegally in the United States; of those, an estimated five
million participate in the US labor force, often working for less than
minimum wage and receiving few, if any, benefits. Nearly 60 percent of
these workers were born in Mexico. According to the Pew Hispanic Center,
20 percent of them labor in manufacturing, 12 percent toil in
construction, 14 percent work in restaurants, and 20-25 percent perform
the strenuous work that underpins the booming business of agriculture.
Others find posts as janitors, landscapers, and securities guards. Due
to their illegal status, these workers have little bargaining power;
"One of our concerns," said Courtney, "is the exploitation of workers in
the United States". Given the BICE's position as a law enforcement
agency, though, it offers only one alternative: going home.
Attorney James Linsey has another idea: sue the company for
racketeering. His case against Wal-Mart on behalf of erstwhile janitors
will not protect them from deportation, but if successful would build on
preceding victories for illegal employees who have been overworked and
underpaid. This could lead employers to treat illegal employees more
fairly, but most workers are unlikely to prosecute unless already
threatened with deportation.
According to Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado, "displaced legal
workers ought to be the ones suing Wal-Mart and its subcontractors". His
proposed reforms increase security spending and terminate guest worker
programs until the completion of a national exit-entry system; since no
one knows how long that will take, this spells indefinite suspension of
such programs. Tancredo's Press Secretary Carlos Espinosa says the goal
of the Border Enforcement and Revolving Employment to Assist Laborers
(BE REAL Act), is "to secure America's borders". With the help of
unmanned flight craft, says Espinosa, a soldier can man a mile of border
territory; a mere 200 people could monitor the Mexican-American border.
Tancredo imagines that additional hires in BICE can take care of
rounding up the eight million people that have already made it through.
Not all Republicans share Tancredo's quixotic visions. Arizona
Congressmen Jim Kolbe and Jeff Flake have authored legislation promising
to tackle the border issue as well as the problem of illegal workers in
the US. Those already here would pay $1500 to gain legal status for
three years of work; if employers wished to bring foreign workers in for
a three year stint, they would petition to do so and prove that they'd
advertised the job to native Americans first. This bill has fairly broad
support, and John McCain has introduced similar legislation in the
Senate.
A bill known as "Agjobs" may have the greatest chance of passing.
Created through the cooperation of the United Farmworkers union (UFW)
and representatives of the agribusiness industry, it would legalize
500,000 farm workers and immediate family members over the course of six
years. Those in the industry understand their dependence on illegal
labor and don't look forward to losing a trained work force to BICE
raids. Rosalinda Guillen, Executive Director of LUPE and former National
Vice President of UFW, said, "What's important to us is keeping families
together".
Tancredo complains that such bills reward lawbreakers; his dreamy-eyed
nativist approach frames immigration as a moral issue. When viewed as an
economic issue, its effects look decidedly less negative. Wal-Mart
displaced high-school dropouts, if anyone, by hiring illegally. It's
certainly true that the nine percent of Americans without diplomas could
compete more easily with legal employees than with illegal immigrant
workers. But by sending money home, immigrant workers improve the
Mexican economy and decrease the likelihood of future mass migrations to
the US. In addition, Daniel Griswold cites 2002 findings by the
President's Council of Economic Advisors that immigrants raise the
income of Americans by $1-10 billion per year. Hardliners like Tancredo,
however, spend little time lamenting illegally low prices.
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