NewsMax.com
Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2001

According to the Christian Science Monitor:

Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, who is championing the initiative, said he wants "to set up a workable guest-worker program so people can come into America legally to work, have their rights protected and accumulate human and financial capital to take back to Mexico."

He would have Congress begin by offering such legal, temporary status to Mexican workers already in this country illegally. They are now estimated at between 3 million and 7 million.

Other senators joining Gramm in support of the program, sure to receive opposition as well as support on both sides of the border, are Jim Bunning of Kentucky, Mike Crapo of Idaho and Pete Domenici of New Mexico, all Republicans, and Zell Miller of Georgia, a Democrat.

They and Gramm met earlier this month in Mexico with its new president, Vicente Fox.

Gramm's proposal will likely be discussed when President Bush travels to Mexico on Feb. 16 for talks with Fox that center on immigration issues.

Here are the pros and cons of the guest-worker proposal:

Pros

• Labor-intensive industries in the United States such as agriculture and construction would have a reliable and legal source of workers.

• Legal workers would have salary, working conditions and other rights they cannot demand as illegals.

• If given the opportunity to enter legally, Mexicans might be less tempted to migrate illegally.

• The program aims to encourage Mexicans to take their savings and new skills back to Mexico, thus improving its economy.

Cons

• Many immigration experts say a guest-worker program is unlikely to reverse the long-standing practice of undocumented Mexican workers migrating northward.

• Enforcement would be complex.

• It would be difficult to convince Mexicans they will be better off applying to be part of the new program than simply sneaking across the border.

• The program does not include the possibility of U.S. citizenship.

• Experience with guest-worker programs in other countries shows they usually make migration more attractive, rather than less.

• In Germany, a guest-worker program has contributed to creation of a separate class of residents without the rights of citizens.

• If there is an economic downturn in this country it would be more difficult to sell this program to Congress.