The SPLC submitted comments this week in support of the U.S. Department of Labor and Department of Homeland Security’s new H-2B wage rule. This rule, which was implemented on a temporary basis in April, represents an important victory for U.S. workers and a milestone in the SPLC’s advocacy on behalf of H-2B guest workers.

 

 

If there is a dominant myth in the debate over America’s treatment of the men and women who harvest our food, it is that U.S. workers won’t take these jobs. A recent study by a researcher named Michael Clemens at the Center for Global Development (CGD), a Washington, DC think tank, and released by the Rupert Murdoch backed Partnership for a New American Economy, makes just such a claim.

As lawmakers on Capitol Hill continue the mark-up of Senate bill 744 – otherwise known as comprehensive immigration reform – there has been the usual beltway chatter that comes with high-profile legislation. Everyone loves to play armchair quarterback – or armchair senator – analyzing what each amendment means for the fate of this bill. But political junkies and lawmakers need to see beyond the usual political games and talking points.

Several plans to overhaul the nation’s immigration system, including Senate Bill 744, contain important protections for U.S. and foreign workers that must be preserved as the legislation moves through Congress. But they lack critical protections to prevent foreign workers from enduring the kind of exploitation prevalent in the current H-2 guest worker program.

Fifty years after young people braved fire hoses and police dogs to end segregation in Birmingham, Ala., their courageous acts were commemorated in the nation’s capital last night as congressional staffers, SPLC members, civil rights advocates and journalists gathered for a screening of Teaching Tolerance’s Academy Award-winning documentary Mighty Times: The Children’s March.