The Other Workers

Labor Day was celebrated this year against the backdrop of the legislative debate on immigration reform. This is a debate of contradictions, because it involves demand for more foreign labor while other foreign workers, those already working in the country but who don’t have their documents in order, are being degraded and humiliated.

The need for people to fill jobs that Americans can’t or won’t do came to the forefront when the business sector participated in drafting the bill the Senate approved. Many businesses, ranging from Silicon Valley to the agriculture and construction sectors, wanted to include their requests for temporary foreign workers.

In many cases, as we can see daily, immigrants do jobs that Americans find undesirable, but that are essential for an economy.

With their ethic of hard work and responsibility, immigrants—no matter their legal situation—earn the respect of their bosses and the companies where they work. However, this consideration quickly disappears when prejudice replaces knowledge and political maneuvering in the House of Representatives displaces the reality being experienced in millions of jobs throughout the country.

That is why punitive policies toward the undocumented, like preventing them from becoming citizens, fly in the face of opinion polls that support the regularization of these immigrants and their full inclusion in society.

Millions of immigrants celebrated Labor Day yesterday with the tradition of grilling. They, unlike their American peers, are the “other” workers. The ones who work from the shadows and hope that this year—after such a long time—they are recognized for their contributions and their presence in the United States.