June 09, 2008

Shouldn't John Bowe ("Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor") forcefully oppose illegal immigration?

Investigative journalist John Bowe is the author of a new book called "Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy", and he recently spoke about it at a book store in Iowa City, Iowa. An interesting Q&A with him is here. He actually makes a fair amount of sense. While I haven't read the book and it might just be a function of the questioner, he seems to stumble a bit on how to solve the issues he complains about:

We need to address labor rights and laws. We need to go into the workplaces of the lowest-end workplaces and figure out a way to make labor practices fair. What this really means is that we need to make it easier for workers to organize and form unions. At the same time, we need to nail employers who are breaking American laws. So it's having a labor policy and enforcing it... The same holds true for immigration.

Perhaps he realizes the latter is controversial and in order to avoid offending his audience he said the latter sotto voce. But, perhaps he should speak up because reducing illegal/massive immigration and only allowing current, limited "guest" worker programs would work towards eliminating abuses.

Posted to Immigration2008a at June 9, 2008 11:14 AM