Planning for Migrant Workers

The bubble up process for legislation is unpredictable because some bills seem to have the skids greased for them. I think I understand the feeling of having a bill that is still number two on the agenda while bill after bill is placed in front of it. I remember the feeling watching older kids cut in the lunch line.

I have some concerns about one bill that went from a boxcar to legislation awaiting the Governor's signature all in four days. The sponsor is Representative Sandstrom; it is HB 466, Migrant Workers and Related Commission Amendments.

On March 1st, its text was made public. It was introduced in the House and send to be heard in the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Standing Committee. That is the only place that the public is able to testify in favor of or opposed to the bill and on March 3rd, it received its hearing. On March 4th, it was read on the House floor and passed unanimously without many questions. It was then rushed to the Senate for a vote and passed with only one nay vote.

In a nutshell, the bill sets up a relationship with the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, such that migrant workers could apply in Nuevo Leon, have a background check and be granted an H2 visa to work in the United States. They would be chosen based on the needs of businesses who apply for migrant workers to fill jobs here. The bill also calls for a commission to evaluate this arrangement.

There are many good things about this bill and I hope it is as good as its sponsors say. At the same time, I have a few concerns.

I remember hearing about a program similar to this in a state in the Southeast. I don't remember details but I think the jobs that were being filled were in the logging industry. The workers were brought into the states and sent to remote logging camps and kept in squalid conditions. They had no means of personal transportation or communication. Their wages were held by the company but exorbitant fees for their participation in the program were deducted till there was little if anything to be held for them. Information about this situation came out when one worker escaped and traveled north to New York City and found a relative who was working and living comfortably without documents. The reporter pointed out the irony of the worker who tried to come the "legal way" and found himself a virtual slave as opposed to the illegal immigrant who could provide well for his family illegally. I fear this program could easily turn into indentured servitude, especially if the Mexican partners can skim fees from the wages that workers receive from their US employers.

The program might also be abused if businesses here advertise for unskilled laborers and are instead sent skilled workers. The business then finds that they have valuable human resources and move the skilled laborers into positions, displacing US citizens who cost more to employ. This brings wages down for all the other laborers and keeps our unemployment high.

Finally, I hope that there are safeguards in place that this cannot become a form of state-sanctioned human trafficking. I would like to be certain that the work of the Commission that evaluates this program includes watching for how women are involved as migrant workers.