Noncitizen Immigrant Labor and the Thirteenth Amendment: Challenging Guest Worker Programs
18 Pages Posted: 27 Sep 2007 Last revised: 27 Apr 2010
Abstract
This article offers a Thirteenth Amendment analysis of "guest worker programs." In these visa programs, non-United States citizens may come to work in the United States for a limited period of time. Under most of these programs, the worker must leave if they get fired or quit. The article offers a historical perspective of agricultural guest worker programs from 1770 through today and concludes that poorly crafted guest worker programs may violate the Thirteenth Amendment.
Keywords: thirteenth amendment, constitution, farm workers, california history, labor, immigration, immigrant workers, visa, guest worker
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