How guest worker visas could transform the US immigration system
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0:01 - 0:03By October 2018,
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0:03 - 0:07Juan Carlos Rivera could no longer afford
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0:07 - 0:10to live in his home in Copan, Honduras.
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0:10 - 0:12As the "Dallas Morning News" reported,
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0:12 - 0:16a gang was taking 10 percent
of his earnings from his barber shop. -
0:17 - 0:21His wife was assaulted
going to her pre-K teaching job. -
0:21 - 0:25And they were concerned
about the safety of their young daughter. -
0:25 - 0:27What could they do?
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0:27 - 0:28Run away?
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0:28 - 0:30Seek asylum in another country?
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0:30 - 0:32They didn't want to do that.
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0:32 - 0:35They just wanted to live
in their country safely. -
0:36 - 0:38But their options were limited.
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0:38 - 0:39So that month,
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0:39 - 0:43Juan Carlos moved his family
to a safer location -
0:43 - 0:48while he joined a group of migrants
on the long and perilous journey -
0:48 - 0:49from Central America
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0:49 - 0:56to a job a family member said
was open for him in the United States. -
0:56 - 0:58By now we're all familiar
with what awaited them -
0:58 - 1:01at the US-Mexico border.
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1:01 - 1:05The harsher and harsher penalties
doled out to those crossing there. -
1:05 - 1:08The criminal prosecutions
for crossing illegally. -
1:08 - 1:10The inhumane detention.
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1:10 - 1:13And most terribly,
separation of families. -
1:14 - 1:18I'm here to tell you
that not only is this treatment wrong, -
1:18 - 1:20it's unnecessary.
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1:20 - 1:24This belief that the only way
to maintain order -
1:24 - 1:27is with inhumane means
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1:27 - 1:28is inaccurate.
-
1:28 - 1:31And in fact, the opposite is true.
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1:32 - 1:37Only a humane system
will create order at the border. -
1:39 - 1:45When safe, orderly, legal travel
to the United States is available, -
1:45 - 1:48very few people choose
travel that is unsafe, -
1:48 - 1:50disorderly or illegal.
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1:51 - 1:53Now, I appreciate the idea
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1:53 - 1:57that legal immigration
could just resolve the border crisis -
1:57 - 2:00might sound a bit fanciful.
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2:00 - 2:02But here is the good news:
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2:02 - 2:04We have done this before.
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2:05 - 2:07I've been working on immigration for years
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2:07 - 2:09at the Cato Institute
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2:09 - 2:11and other think tanks in Washington DC
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2:11 - 2:15and as the senior policy adviser
for a republican member of Congress, -
2:15 - 2:20negotiating bipartisan immigration reform.
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2:20 - 2:22And I've seen firsthand
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2:22 - 2:27how America has implemented
a system of humane order at the border -
2:27 - 2:29for Mexico.
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2:29 - 2:31It's called a guest worker program.
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2:32 - 2:34And here's the even better news.
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2:34 - 2:39We can replicate this success
for Central America. -
2:40 - 2:41Of course, some people
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2:41 - 2:45will still need to seek
asylum at the border. -
2:45 - 2:49But to understand how successful
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2:49 - 2:53this could be for immigrants
like Juan Carlos, -
2:53 - 2:55understand that until recently,
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2:55 - 3:00nearly every immigrant arrested
by Border Patrol was Mexican. -
3:02 - 3:04In 1986,
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3:04 - 3:10each Border Patrol agent
arrested 510 Mexicans. -
3:10 - 3:13Well over one per day.
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3:13 - 3:16By 2019, this number was just eight.
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3:16 - 3:18That's one every 43 days.
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3:18 - 3:21It is a 98 percent reduction.
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3:23 - 3:26So where have all the Mexicans gone?
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3:26 - 3:29The most significant change
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3:29 - 3:31is that the US began issuing
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3:31 - 3:35hundreds of thousands
of guest worker visas to Mexicans, -
3:35 - 3:38so that they can come legally.
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3:38 - 3:43José Vásquez Cabrera was among
the first Mexican guest workers -
3:43 - 3:46to take advantage of this visa expansion.
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3:46 - 3:50He told "The New York Times"
that before his visa -
3:50 - 3:54he'd made terrifying
illegal border crossings, -
3:54 - 3:58braving near deadly heat
and the treachery of the landscape. -
3:58 - 4:04One time, a snake killed
a member of his group. -
4:05 - 4:08Thousands of other Mexicans
also didn't make it, -
4:08 - 4:13dying of dehydration in the deserts
or drowning in the Rio Grande. -
4:13 - 4:16Millions more were
chased down and arrested. -
4:17 - 4:22Guest worker visas have nearly ended
this inhumane chaos. -
4:22 - 4:24As Vásquez Cabrera put it,
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4:24 - 4:28"I no longer have to risk my life
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4:28 - 4:30to support my family.
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4:30 - 4:33And when I'm here,
I don't have to live in hiding." -
4:34 - 4:38Guest worker visas actually reduced
the number of illegal crossings -
4:38 - 4:40more than the number of visas issued.
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4:41 - 4:45Jose Bacilio, another
Mexican guest worker, explained why -
4:45 - 4:48to the "Washington Post" in April.
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4:48 - 4:53He said, even though
he hadn't received a visa this year, -
4:53 - 4:57he wouldn't risk all of his future chances
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4:57 - 4:58by crossing illegally.
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4:59 - 5:02This likely helps explain why
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5:02 - 5:06from 1996 to 2019
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5:06 - 5:10for every guest worker
admitted legally from Mexico, -
5:10 - 5:16there was a decline in two arrests
of Mexicans crossing illegally. -
5:17 - 5:18Now, it's true,
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5:18 - 5:23Mexican guest workers
do some really tough jobs. -
5:23 - 5:26Picking fruit, cleaning crabs,
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5:26 - 5:28landscaping in a 100-degree heat.
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5:29 - 5:32And some critics maintain
that guest worker visas -
5:32 - 5:34are not actually humane
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5:34 - 5:37and that the workers
are just abused slaves. -
5:37 - 5:43But Vásquez Cabrera thought
a guest worker visa was liberating. -
5:43 - 5:45Not enslavement.
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5:45 - 5:48And he, like nearly
all other guest workers, -
5:48 - 5:53chose the legal path
over the illegal one, repeatedly. -
5:55 - 6:00The expansion of guest worker
visas to Mexicans -
6:00 - 6:04has been among the most
significant humane changes -
6:04 - 6:07in US immigration policy ever.
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6:08 - 6:11And that humane change
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6:11 - 6:14imposed order on chaos.
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6:16 - 6:19So where does this leave
Central Americans, -
6:19 - 6:21like Juan Carlos?
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6:22 - 6:25Well, Central Americans received
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6:25 - 6:31just three percent of the guest worker
visas issued in 2019, -
6:31 - 6:36even as their share of border arrests
has risen to 74 percent. -
6:37 - 6:42The US issued just one guest worker visa
to a Central American -
6:42 - 6:48for every 78 who crossed
the border illegally in 2019. -
6:49 - 6:52So if they can't get their papers at home,
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6:52 - 6:55many take their chances,
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6:55 - 6:58coming up through Mexico
to claim asylum at the border -
6:58 - 7:00or cross illegally,
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7:00 - 7:04even if, like Juan Carlos,
they prefer to come to work. -
7:05 - 7:07The US can do better.
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7:08 - 7:11It needs to create new guest worker visas
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7:11 - 7:14specifically for Central Americans.
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7:15 - 7:17This would create an incentive
for US businesses -
7:18 - 7:21to seek out and hire Central Americans,
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7:21 - 7:24paying for their flights
to the United States, -
7:24 - 7:28and diverting them from the illegal,
dangerous trek north. -
7:29 - 7:33Central Americans could build
flourishing lives at home, -
7:33 - 7:35without the need to seek
asylum at the border -
7:35 - 7:36or cross illegally,
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7:36 - 7:39freeing up an overwhelmed system.
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7:40 - 7:42Some people might say
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7:42 - 7:45that letting the workers go back and forth
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7:45 - 7:48will never work in Central America
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7:48 - 7:50where violence is so high.
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7:51 - 7:54But again, it worked in Mexico,
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7:54 - 7:59even as Mexico's murder rate
more than tripled over the last decade, -
7:59 - 8:03to a level higher
than much of Central America. -
8:04 - 8:06And it would work for Juan Carlos,
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8:06 - 8:09who said, despite the threats
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8:09 - 8:12he only wants to live
in the United States temporarily, -
8:12 - 8:14to make enough money
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8:14 - 8:17to sustain his family in their new home.
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8:17 - 8:21He even suggested
that a guest worker program -
8:21 - 8:25would be one of the best things
to help Hondurans like him. -
8:26 - 8:33Cintia, a 29-year-old
single mother of three from Honduras, -
8:33 - 8:35seems to agree.
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8:35 - 8:39She told the "Wall Street Journal"
that she came for a job -
8:39 - 8:42to support her kids and her mom.
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8:43 - 8:47Surveys of Central Americans
traveling through Mexico, -
8:47 - 8:50by the College of the Northern
Border in Mexico, -
8:50 - 8:54confirm that Juan and Cintia are the norm.
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8:55 - 8:59Most, not all, but most do come for jobs,
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8:59 - 9:01even if, like the Riveras,
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9:01 - 9:04they may also face
some real threats at home. -
9:05 - 9:10How much would a low-wage job help
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9:10 - 9:13a Honduran, like Juan or Cintia?
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9:14 - 9:18Hondurans like them make as much
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9:18 - 9:21in one month in the United States
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9:21 - 9:27as they do in an entire year
working in Honduras. -
9:27 - 9:30A few years' work in the United States
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9:30 - 9:34can propel a Central American
into its upper middle class -
9:34 - 9:36where safety is easier to come by.
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9:37 - 9:41What Central Americans lack
is not the desire to work. -
9:41 - 9:45Not the desire to contribute
to the US economy, -
9:45 - 9:49to contribute to the lives of Americans.
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9:49 - 9:53What Central Americans lack
is a legal alternative to asylum. -
9:53 - 9:55To be able to do so legally.
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9:56 - 9:59Of course, a new guest worker program
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9:59 - 10:05will not resolve 100 percent
of this complex phenomenon. -
10:06 - 10:11Many asylum seekers
will still need to seek safety -
10:11 - 10:12at the US border.
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10:13 - 10:15But with the flows reduced,
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10:15 - 10:18we can more easily work out ways
to deal with them humanely. -
10:20 - 10:21But ultimately,
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10:21 - 10:26no single policy has proven to do more
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10:26 - 10:31to create an immigration system
that is both humane -
10:31 - 10:33and orderly
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10:33 - 10:36than to let the workers come legally.
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10:37 - 10:38Thank you.
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10:38 - 10:43(Applause)
- Title:
- How guest worker visas could transform the US immigration system
- Speaker:
- David Bier
- Description:
-
The United States can create a more humane immigration system; in fact, it's been done before, says policy analyst David J. Bier. Pointing to the historical success of the US guest worker program, which allows foreign workers to legally enter and work in the country, Bier shows why expanding the program to Central Americans could alleviate the border crisis and provide new opportunities for immigrants.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 10:56
Oliver Friedman edited English subtitles for How guest worker visas could transform the US immigration system | ||
Oliver Friedman edited English subtitles for How guest worker visas could transform the US immigration system | ||
Oliver Friedman edited English subtitles for How guest worker visas could transform the US immigration system | ||
Oliver Friedman edited English subtitles for How guest worker visas could transform the US immigration system | ||
Erin Gregory approved English subtitles for How guest worker visas could transform the US immigration system | ||
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for How guest worker visas could transform the US immigration system | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz accepted English subtitles for How guest worker visas could transform the US immigration system | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for How guest worker visas could transform the US immigration system |