Close to Slavery: Report Finds Labor Abuses Under Guestworker Programs

On Thursday President Bush reiterated his call for Congress to pass an immigration bill that allows more immigrants to come to the United States as so-called guest workers. President Bush made the call during a press conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Mexico marked the last stop on President Bush's five-nation tour of Latin America.

* President Bush, speaking in Mexico.

However many human rights groups are strongly criticizing the guest worker proposal. The Southern Poverty Law Center has just released a report titled "Close to Slavery: Guestworker Programs in the United States."

The report found that guest workers who come to the United States are routinely cheated out of wages; forced to mortgage their futures to obtain low-wage, temporary jobs. Once here they are held virtually captive by employers who seize their documents. They are forced to live in squalid conditions while being denied medical benefits for injuries.

* Mary Bauer, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Immigrant Justice Project. She is author of the new report "Close to Slavery: Guestworker Programs in the United States."

We called the Department of Labor and invited them on the show to respond to the report. They declined our invitation.

We also speak with a former guest worker named Nelson. He joins us on the phone from Guatemala. He came to the United States on the guest worker program where he worked as a tree planter for the Georgia-based Eller and Sons Trees. It is the largest forestry contractor in the United States. Nelson does not want his full name mentioned as he plans to come to the US in the future.

* Nelson, came to the United States on the guest worker program where he worked as a tree planter for the Georgia-based Eller and Sons Trees. He joins us on the phone from Guatemala.

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