Inviting Workers, Importing Poverty
Author: Kirshten, Dick
Date Published: 1999
This article examines the agriculture industry's dependence on cheap migrant labor, and how changes in voter sentiment and policy have encouraged the development of a new, permanent population of rural poor. It goes on to discuss the debate surrounding guest worker programs, in which growers wish to increase the numbers of immigrants allowed to work in the U.S., while opponents feel this program will only solidify migrant farmworkers' position at the bottom.
Date Published: 1999
This article examines the agriculture industry's dependence on cheap migrant labor, and how changes in voter sentiment and policy have encouraged the development of a new, permanent population of rural poor. It goes on to discuss the debate surrounding guest worker programs, in which growers wish to increase the numbers of immigrants allowed to work in the U.S., while opponents feel this program will only solidify migrant farmworkers' position at the bottom.
