RECOMMENDATIONS TO PRES.  BUSH TEMPORARY WORKER PROGRAM

 By Roman P. Mosqueda, Esq.

            Pres. George W. Bush has announced on January 7, 2004, his new temporary worker program that would allow alien workers to enter, and overstaying and illegal aliens to remain in, the United States short of granting blanket amnesty.

            His “temporary worker” program is long on political rhetoric, but short on implementing details.  It provides for a three-year worker program meant to legalize the entry of agricultural and other types of workers, and to legalize the status of overstaying and illegal alien workers already in this country.

            How this program will be fleshed out in statute form as an addition and/or amendment to the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) after Congressional input remains to be seen.  It’s announcement in an election year by a Republican President is calculated to obtain political favor from the immigrant community.

Details of Pres. Bush Temporary Worker Program:

             Named as the Fair and Secure Immigration Reform, President Bush outlined his new temporary worker program that offers “temporary worker status to undocumented men and women now employed in the United States and those in foreign countries who have been offered employment here,” as follows:

            1.   a new temporary worker visa or status for three years, with renewal ability (number of renewals not stated).

            2.      payment by an undocumented worker now here in the U.S. of a one-time fee (amount not stated) to register in the program (no fee for a worker seeking to join program from abroad);

            3.      permanent return of the temporary worker to his/her home country after the period of work expires;

            4.   no automatic lawful permanent resident status (green card) to the temporary worker, whose employer or another prospective employer may apply for labor certification and file petition for alien worker (Form I-140) under existing legal procedures;

            5.      ability of the temporary worker to go home to his/her home country to visit family without concern, through issuance of  “a temporary worker card that will allow…travel back and forth between (his/her) home and the United States without fear of being denied re-entry into this country”;

            6.      authorization for family members of the temporary worker to live with him/her in the U.S., with proof of financial capacity to support them, but without authorization to work, unless they join the program themselves;

            7.      ability of the temporary worker to move to another employer participating in the program;

            8.      protection of the American workforce by requiring employers to make every reasonable effort to find an American to fill a job before extending job offers to foreign workers;

            9.      incentives for a temporary worker to return permanently to his/her home country in terms of credit in his/her own country’s retirement system for time worked in the United States and contribution from earnings to tax-preferred savings accounts, from which he/she can collect money as he/she returns to his/her native country;

            10.      reasonable increase (no number stated) in the annual limit of legal immigrants that will benefit those who follow the lawful path to U.S. citizenship;

            11.      increased enforcement against American companies or employers that break the law and hire illegal workers;

            12. no eligibility for continued participation in the program for participants who do not remain employed, do not follow the rules of the program, or who break the law, and who will be required to return to their home;

            13.      establishment of identity of a temporary worker by the ability to obtain legal documents (presumably Social Security card and driver’s license);

            14. a website listing available jobs and authorized workers;

            15. a simple process (not stated) for employers to establish that they have been unable to find American workers;

            16.      requirement that the employer report when foreign workers enter and leave their employ; and

            17.      strong audit and penalty provisions (not stated) to ensure that both employers and workers are following the rules.

 Recommendations to Pres. Bush Temporary Worker Program:

            In order to reduce, if not eliminate, the “massive, undocumented economy” that Pres. Bush stated in his Remarks on Immigration Policy on January 7, 2004, the following recommendations are made by this author:

            1.      eligibility of any alien (overstaying, illegal or non-immigrant in current status who subsequently losses status) in the United States as of the effectivity of the legislation to participate in the temporary worker program;       

            2.      inclusion of any job, skilled and unskilled, that able Americans are not filling in the program;

            3.      labor certification category for these skilled and unskilled positions under the program and additional number of lawful permanent resident visas for third-preference employment-based petitions to cover these temporary workers;

            4.      renewal or extension of the three-year period of temporary worker employment for those who have been petitioned for labor certification until they can file their adjustment of status to lawful permanent resident;

            5.      eligibility to register in the program for aliens in deportation or removal proceedings and administrative closure or termination of the proceedings upon accepted registration in the program;

            6.      eligibility to register in the program for aliens with final orders of deportation or removal, who have not been convicted of an aggravated felony, and the revocation of such final order of deportation or removal;

            7.      one-time registration fee in the program by overstaying or illegal aliens not exceeding $195.00;

            8.      ability of family members of the temporary worker who do not participate in the program to obtain identity documents and driver’s license; and

            9.      ability of family members of the temporary worker to go home to their native country and re-enter the United States, through issuance of a special family card, to promote family unity. 

            President Bush envisions “immigration laws that work and make us proud,” “that serve the American economy and reflect the American Dream.”

            We await the final legislation and regulation thereon. Time is of the essence. 

            This Republican administration and Congress should pass the legislation before the November election.  It should be the quid pro quo for our vote. 

            Filipino-Americans should develop economic and political clout in mainstream American economy and politics.  We are so distracted by the four-ring circus of Philippine politics.