Freedom Folks: John Tanton: Questions For Sweaty Teddy On A Guest Worker Program

Source: The Social Contract

Dear Senator Kennedy –

As the founding chairman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) I have been at odds with you on your proposed guest worker program. However, I am willing to be persuaded. I hope you will consent to answer this Baker’s dozen of questions, to clarify your proposal and perhaps earn the support of myself and other fair-minded persons. — Cordially, John H. Tanton M.D.

1. How will the number of visas to be issued be decided? Will it be based on demand from the United States side, or supply from the applicants’ side? If the demand is greater than the supply, how will the supply be apportioned?

2. Will the employers be required to pay the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour?

3. Will guest workers be covered by health insurance? How will this be arranged, and at what level of coverage?

4. Will the guest workers be covered by unemployment insurance, disability insurance and Workman’s Compensation? How will this be arranged, especially if the workers change employer from time to time?

5. Will Social Security taxes be collected and current rules enforced? U.S. legal residents must pay in for 40 quarters to be eligible for benefits. Will these same rules apply to guest workers? How do international Social Security totalization agreements fit into this picture?

6. Will guest workers pay federal, state and local income and other taxes at the usual rates? Since rates often depend on the number of dependents claimed, how will this number be verified?

7. Will guest workers be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit? Since the credit permitted is also heavily dependent on the number of dependents claimed, I ask again — how will this number be verified, presumably in the home country?

8. Will guest workers be able to bring their spouses and children to the U.S.? If the answer is yes, who will pay their medical and educational expenses?

9. How will the guest workers (and their families, if they are permitted to come) be housed and fed? In barracks and cafeterias?

10. Concerning guest workers running afoul of the law: who will bear their representation, incarceration and related expenses — now at $2 billion annually?

11. Will children born in the United States to guest workers be granted U.S. citizenship, with all that implies?

12. Will the citizens of some countries be favored in the issuance of visas, to the disadvantage of those from less favored countries? This discriminatory favoritism would seem to run afoul of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which specifically prohibits discrimination based on “national origin.” Recall with me the 40-year campaign to get rid of the National Origins immigration system instituted by the immigration legislation of 1924. Please give assurances that you do not propose taking us back to the era of “barred zones,” and that all nationalities will be treated equally.

13. Will guest workers accrue paid vacation and sick leave? If the answer is yes, how will this expense be apportioned among serial employers? Will guest workers be permitted to unionize, or otherwise have collective bargaining rights?

Finally, to give us a sense of how this program might work, would you please outline in some detail how a resident of China or India, or perhaps Ecuador or Nigeria might apply for one of these visas. What would be the steps involved, and how would transportation to the United States be paid for?

Thank you, Senator Kennedy, for your efforts to solve the vexing migration problems that our country faces. — Cordially, John H. Tanton, M.D.