9 years ago
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The New American Slavery
Invited to the U.S., foreign workers find a nightmare. By Jessica Garrison, Ken Bensinger and Jeremy Singer-Vine.
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The Slave Ship that Ran from Kerala to New Orleans
Post Hurricane Katrina, a whole new American dream was designed for some Indians — how to get trapped in a guarded labor camp by an American company. Five of these Indians just won $14 million in damages in their fight for justice and dignity, in one of the largest labor trafficking cases... (April)
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That's my complaint about the H-2 and the H-1 visa programs: they're designed to create a new era of indentured servitude. They can lock you into their company without fear of you leaving, hold total authority over you, take confidence that you're unlikely to report problems, unlikely to sue, and they're free to threaten to deport you for any infraction. And it will suppress the wages they would need to pay to a local worker.
It's just a massive lose-lose situation for everyone involved except the business owner.
I 100% support skilled labor visas. But we should give more rights and liberties to anyone coming on a work visa, and every single one should have a clear path toward guaranteed citizenship after some point.