analysis

Immigration: Cheap Labour for Rich Economy
Jyotika J. Thukral

THE issue of immigration is high on the political agenda for governments around the world and has taken a new course lately as different countries resort to more stringent legislations for immigrants.

While western governments are often under pressure to restrict the entry of migrants, developing countries find themselves losing high skilled professionals to these nations, significant revenue from emigrants notwithstanding.

The US House of Representatives has recently passed a Bill -- Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act, which would make it a crime to be in the US without proper documentation. In addition it will impose new penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants, require churches to check the legal status of people they help and erect fences along one-third of the US-Mexican border. The protagonists of this Bill said that they were trying to stop people from exploiting illegal immigrants for cheap labour, drug trafficking and prostitution. “The harsh anti-immigration legislation would also make it a criminal act to provide an illegal immigrant with medical care. This is simply immoral,” noted columnist Paul Krugman wrote in New York Times.

However, the recent massive street demonstrations against the Bill and the ensuing elections in the USA had some desired impact. All those people who demonstrated were not illegally there. They were the children and grandchildren, many of them being there for long. As most newspapers reported, “America on March 25 witnessed one of the largest demonstrations for any cause in recent U.S. history when more than 500,000 people marched in protest through downtown Los Angeles. Marchers also took to the streets in Phoenix, Milwaukee, Dallas and Columbus, Ohio. These protesters felt that the lawmakers were being unfair by targeting immigrants who provided a major labour pool for the country’s economy.”

The Bill debated by the government and on which was dependent the fate of as many as 11 million people living in America illegally had now been decided somewhat in favour of the protestors.  American Senators on all sides of the issue agreed that illegal workers hold thousands of jobs that otherwise would go unfilled at the wages offered. The agriculture industry especially is almost entirely dependent on these undocumented and exploited workers. And in purely political terms, the issue threatened to fracture Republicans as they head into the midterm election campaign — one group eager to make labour readily available for low-wage jobs in industries such as agriculture, construction and meatpacking, the other determined to place a higher emphasis on law enforcement.

President George W. Bush was hoping to avoid a split after a political career spent building support for himself and his party from the fast-growing Hispanic population and do something urgently. A section of the Republicans were keen to have cheap labour and another wished to restrict the immigration flow, as it was harmful for the service sector like health care.

In general, the bill is designed to strengthen enforcement of U.S. borders, regulate the flow into the country of so-called guest workers and determine the legal future of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.

The bill would double the Border Patrol and authorizes a "virtual wall" of unmanned vehicles, cameras and sensors to monitor the U.S.-Mexico border. Earlier attempts failed to check illegal immigration for two reasons.  There was dire need of cheap labour in America and the availability of cheap workers across the border. Many Americans also thought best to move across the border and put up their units there.  American industry and other establishments need cheap labour to make profits and the immigrant labourers provide this across North America, particularly from Latin American countries. Or in another form from finished cheap goods supplied by the developing countries where too the labour is cheap.

This changed Bill also allows more visas for nurses and agriculture workers, and shelters humanitarian organizations from prosecution if they provide non-emergency assistance to illegal residents.

So far lawmakers had been divided on whether illegal immigrants should be required to return to their home country before they become eligible for U.S. citizenship. And whether the offenders should face civil action or be charged with criminal offences and imprisoned.  Now the legislation would permit illegal aliens currently in the country to apply for citizenship without first having to return home, a process that would take at least six years or more. They would have to pay a fine, learn English, study American civics, demonstrate they had paid their taxes and be in queues for citizenship.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a liberal Democrat prevailed on a proposal to allow an additional 400,000 green cards for future immigrants, regardless of the industry where they find jobs.

President Bush, siding with the business community that relies on cheap labour, is pressuring Congress to allow immigrants to stay in the country legally if they take a job that Americans are unwilling to do. The demonstrations are expected to culminate on April 10 in a ‘National Day of Action’ organised by labour, immigration, civil rights and religious groups.

Perhaps America is not the only one facing this situation as UK is striving hard to put its new system of migration in place. Declared by the Home Secretary Charles Clarke, the new procedure implies that all potential immigrants from outside the European Union would be judged on a sliding points scale depending on their skills and qualifications. The greater their skill and qualification the more points they would earn — the number of points progressively declining for those with low or no skills. It clearly means that employers should recruit first from Britain, followed by EU and lastly from outside. Also it is aimed at encouraging only those to come in who either have the skills or the money that Britain needs.

The new system, which is expected to come into force by 2007-2008, divides the labour into five tiers and is skewed against the hundreds of low-skilled workers from the Indian subcontinent including cooks, waiters or domestic help. Once enforced, these workers would be granted work permits to fill specific job vacancies for a fixed period after which they will have to leave.

While highly skilled workers such as doctors, engineers and IT professionals stand to benefit as they would get the maximum points, followed by skilled applicants like nurses, teachers and plumbers. This inherently implies that Britain now wants to ensure that it only imports those migrants who contribute the maximum to the country. And who better than the IT professionals and not to forget the money that comes with it. ****For Indian companies invest more in Britain than visa versa and the new system is aimed at encouraging the same.

Interestingly, although Britain is keen to absorb the IT and other good talent from India, an Indian in Britain today may be more than willing to return to India because of the opportunities back home. England is keen to get professional and skilled people. Those willing to migrate are normally unskilled jobless. Immigration situation is certainly more complex for all.

The basic kind of work as per the new policy will be opened to workers from EU rather than the Indian subcontinent which in a way implies that nearly no one from Pakistan or Bangladesh can move to Britain any more. And for India too, the emphasis is more on IT now.

The fourth category would comprise students who pay their own fee (about eight times more than what British students pay). Universities and colleges would be told to make sure that those on student visas do not overstay. Now the student fraternity cannot be ignored considering the moolah involved. Last year alone this amounted to £ 5bn.

And the fifth tier includes temporary workers such as musicians or sports people or those on working holiday visas. What is interesting here is that the very government that has come up with this new system, in an effort to formulate a credible policy, lacks adequate data on the number of immigrants living and working there. At present, the government is spending £1.7bn on the immigration and nationality directorate and not even collecting the facts. How this new system works out and to whose advantage is no one guesses?

Developed countries face a perennial dilemma. They wish to have professional and skilled workers to run their services efficiently, slog in the factories for long hours and cope with their menial jobs. Yet they would have them on their terms. The best is to have them slaves as it went on for a century in America. This is no longer possible, yet the exploiters adopt every foul method in their wretched boxes to exploit. Canada, for example, some years back introduced points system. Look at the country, it badly needs doctors, nurses and other paramedic staff at one level, teachers, caregivers, drivers and other technical support at another level as well it needs information technology professionals, yet it would not allow. Currently nearly half a million applicants are in the waiting list. Side by side unscrupulous agents exploit workers, make millions and circumvent the law. In Punjab alone, an unskilled worker is ready to shell out anything between Rs ten to twenty lakhs to reach the shores of these ‘heavens’. A skilled person is also ready, may be with less money.

Australia and Newseland have already some kind of points system, but it largely works to the disadvantage of the immigrants. Intriguingly, all through the WTO negotiations on labour, these leading devotees of free market unabashedly oppose any free movement of workers.