October 10, 2006
The USA’s H2 temporary guestworker program is flawed for many reasons that have been touched on these pages. One of those reasons is that the visas tie workers to one employer. If they encounter any work-place problems, such as underpayment of wages, and if they complain, they will likely be sent home. After borrowing enormous quantities (many must use their land as collateral), no worker wants to be returned home with empty pockets. They literally have everything to lose. Looking closer at one case shows the enormous quandary temporary workers face when the employment changes from the promised high paying jobs to, in the worst case scenario, human trafficking.
A group of Guatemalan workers are facing this situation right now. Forced into low-paying highly exploitative jobs, a far cry from what they had been promised in Guatemala, all the workers left their legal employment. But only one returned to Guatemala. The rest decided to stay in the USA working until their temporary visas expired. The catch is that they can only legally work for the employer listed on that visa. However, that legal obligation had already been violated by the employer who sent them, against their will, to work for someone else in another state. With the aid of Global Workers, the workers now have competent legal counsel pushing a trafficking case against the employer. If human trafficking victims agree to cooperate with law enforcement, they may obtain a T-visa allowing them to stay in the USA and eventually obtain a green card. Here is the quandary. The US government decides to whom to issue a T-visa. The process to evaluate the case and to decide whether to press criminal human trafficking charges takes time. Time that these workers do not have.
When their work visas expire, they must return to Guatemala and report to the US embassy. If they fail to do so, it is doubtful that the worker can ever participate again in the H2 program. If they leave the country to comply with the H2 obligations, then they will lose the opportunity to get a T-visa. T-visas are only issued to persons physically in the US. So what do the workers do? Forgo the opportunity to participate in the guestworker program by staying in the USA illegally as they hope they eventually are granted T-visas? Or return home now and hope they get recontracted by a legitimate employer next year? If they are not recontracted, and can not find a decent job opportunity in Guatemala, then they will likely make the decision, like thousands before them, to re-renter the USA illegally and try their luck in the underground economy.
Of course, if the workers would have worked where they were promised and earned what they were promised, or there was governmental oversight to ensure that the employer was complying with the H2 obligations, none of this would be happening. Their law breaking employer put them in a no win situation. This is the reality of our guestworker program today; an unwieldy system that does not serve anyone well.