Friday, April 29, 2005

INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL (LANCASTER, PA.), April 27, 2005, Wednesday

Copyright 2005 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.
INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL (LANCASTER, PA.)

April 27, 2005, Wednesday


SECTION: LOCAL, Pg. B-5, LATINO NOTES

HEADLINE: Migrant workers sustain economies here, abroad

BYLINE: Enelly Betancourt

BODY:
To many of us, migrant workers are people seen only in documentaries or mentioned in books.
We have all heard of them, but we have no contact because they live on the periphery of society.
Who are these people, and where do they come from?
Many travel between homelands and the United States to work on a seasonal basis. Others are illegal immigrants permanently in the country. Some are legal immigrants. Few are American-born - other than the children, who often work alongside their parents.
They "are treated as second-class citizens. They're always treated as exceptions to labor laws," according to Vernon Briggs, professor for industrial and labor relations at Cornell University.
The migrant worker is not a product of the 20th century.
Women and men have been leaving their homelands in search of work elsewhere ever since payment in return for labor was introduced. The difference today is that there are far more migrant workers than in any period of human history.
Millions of people now earning their living or looking for paid employment came as strangers to the states where they reside. There is no continent that does not have its contingent of migrant workers.
Poverty and the inability to earn or produce enough to support oneself or a family are major reasons behind the movement from one region to another. Other reasons are war, civil strife, insecurity or persecution arising from discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnic origin, color, religion, language or politics.
Those in the United States who support open immigration policies point out that migrant workers play a key role in commerce and industry and keep overall costs low while boosting productivity. They argue migrant workers provide a source of cheap labor and take up jobs shunned by local workers.
In contrast, advocates of stricter border control point to ensuring homeland security and keeping control of government spending on social services.
Some farm laborers put their life in peril day after day as they work in direct contact with crops that have been profusely sprayed with pesticides.
Research states "exposure to pesticides causes an increase in cancer in migrant workers as compared to the general population." For children, the risk is even higher because they are exposed to toxins in the womb of mothers exposed to the pest-control chemicals.
They also are needed to shuck oysters, plant trees, cut lawns, staff kitchens and wait tables.
From the east to the west coast, thousands of businesses are being squeezed by a labor crunch as they scramble to hire employees needed for busy spring and summer seasons.
For more than a decade, they have relied on foreign workers with H-2B visas, a 1990 immigration program that allowed businesses to look outside U.S. borders for workers to fill temporary, nonagricultural jobs Americans increasingly shun.
But in 2005, the 66,000 visas authorized each federal fiscal year were gone by Jan. 3, less than three months after the program's annual start.
President Bush reaffirmed his commitment to change the current immigration regulations, which he acknowledged are not keeping up with the reality of the situation.
No one can deny migrant laborers fill a critical role in the U.S. economy, regardless of their legal status. What's more, they are playing a more important role back home.
Of the total remittances sent back to Latin America and the Caribbean, about 75 percent came from migrants working in the United States. These workers conveyed $16.6 billion to Mexico, $5.6 billion to Brazil and $3.9 million to Colombia.
The workers who send money back to Latin America are living and contributing in two countries, two economies and two cultures all at the same time.
This column appears on alternate Wednesdays and is written by Enelly Betancourt, editor of La Voz Hispana for Lancaster Newspapers Inc.v