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Amnesty for undocumented workers would boost
economies, bring people out of shadows
Aug. 21, 2001
NOTE: More information about the
changing face of Indiana's population is available at Census 2000 Indiana,
a Web site regularly updated by the Indiana Business Research Center in IU's
Kelley School of Business. Go to
http://www.census.indiana.edu/
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A proposed amnesty for more than 3 million undocumented
Mexican workers and their families might help all Latinos in the United States,
particularly those in rural communities, where they are often viewed with
suspicion, say two Indiana University professors.
Jorge Chapa, IU professor and director of Latino Studies, and Ann Millard, a
Michigan State University professor, recently surveyed Latino immigrants. They
found that 55 percent of the immigrants interviewed felt they were viewed with
suspicion, 18 percent have experienced hostility and 5 percent have been victims
of violence.
Eileen McConnell, a visiting associate professor of Latino studies at IU and
the principal investigator for a U.S. Census Bureau contract on Latino
demographics, has chronicled the history of immigration and the cultural changes
in towns that have large populations of Latino immigrants.
The findings by Chapa and Millard are of special concern because of the
continuing large influx of Hispanic people in many towns and cities in Indiana
and across the Midwest. According to U.S. Census Bureau figures, Indiana's
Hispanic population grew by 117 percent during the last decade, from about
99,000 in 1990 to almost 215,000 in 2000.
Twelve Indiana counties -- including Cass, Clinton, Daviess, Elkhart,
Hamilton, Jackson and Noble counties -- experienced more than 300 percent growth
in Hispanic population during the 1990s. Another 44 counties had more than 100
percent growth.
The proposed amnesty would benefit both the United States and Mexico
economically and provide basic human rights protection to a group of people who
often live in danger and secrecy, Chapa said. Undocumented workers often are
placed in dangerous jobs and must live without the benefits of even the poorest
Americans.
"If an immigrant gets robbed, he can't go to the police. If he is sick or
injured to the severest degree, he can't go to the hospital," Chapa said. "To
further exacerbate the risk, undocumented workers typically live in areas of
higher crime and work the most dangerous jobs. Basically, these workers are
risking their lives to provide for their families that are still living in their
native countries."
He observed that illegal immigrants are helping to hold the U.S. economy
together because of their willingness to work in jobs that often are unpleasant,
dirty and dangerous, with no prospects for upward mobility. This fuels a strong
desire by U.S. employers to hire them as workers.
"If President Bush were to accept this proposal, it would give illegal
workers the most basic form of American rights and citizenship and would help to
alleviate the danger and pressure faced by the illegal worker population," Chapa
said. "The details of this proposal would be key to judging if it could work to
the benefit of the immigrants, their employers and the governments of the United
States and Mexico."
The boom in undocumented workers can be attributed to a variety of factors.
"American employers perceive the immigrant workers as reliable, flexible,
punctual and willing to work overtime," Chapa said. "In addition, the immigrant
transnational labor recruitment networks are an easy and powerful way to bring
eager new workers to an employer's doorstep with little or no effort on his
part."
Both government restrictions and their lack of enforcement are helping
sustain the illegal worker population. "Strict enforcement of the borders has
turned temporary migrants into permanent ones," Chapa said. "An illegal worker
faces serious life-and-death consequences if he or she chooses to cross the
border numerous times. Once they get into the United States, they are reluctant
to leave. Also, employer sanctions for using illegal laborers are rarely
enforced."
The money sent back to their families is worth the risk to undocumented
workers. Chapa said a worker who sends back $300 per month to his family in
Mexico will put his family in the middle class of their society.
"These remittances help the native country as a whole," he said. "Remittances
sent back to Mexico, which are estimated at around $10 billion per year, are one
of the highest sources of income for the entire country and have been vital to
Latin American countries for decades."
McConnell said undocumented workers surfaced in America in the early 1900s to work jobs abandoned by European immigrants. "Popular employment for early illegal immigrants included the sugar beet industry, fruit harvesting, and manufacturing plants," she said. "From the early 1900s, and especially around World Wars I and II, and during times of low unemployment rates, the illegal worker has done the work that nobody else wanted to do. But when things turn sour, like the Great Depression, the illegal immigrants are the first ones to get blamed."
Although the undocumented worker population lives in the background of American society, the American public is feeling their presence on a cultural and legal basis. "Americans appreciate the undocumented workers' work, but they will not be acknowledged for their hard work and hostility toward them won't decline until something is done by the government to help their status," Chapa said. "They want and need to have the same basic rights that all people working in this country have.
"It is essential for Latinos to build ethnic communities in the Midwest to help
to cope with the distances of their native culture and traditions," he said.
"They have tried to persuade Catholic churches to honor their popular patron
saint, the Virgin of Guadeloupe, and to observe her feast days. They have
established mutual aid societies and civic organizations that celebrate Mexican
holidays. Latino food markets are popping up in towns where they seem out of
place. Native townsfolk often see these processes as intrusions, and this is
cause for a lot of the hostility."
Cities and towns have to adjust in other ways as well. "Schools and
educational institutions are where a lot of the controversy exists," Chapa said.
"All of a sudden, schools are being forced to hire bilingual teachers and
implement bilingual education programs. Cities need to hire bilingual police
officers and other officials to deal with problems that may arise."
(George Vlahakis, 812-855-0846, gvlahaki@indiana.edu)