Guest Workers

Some Leadership Conference members believe that future labor needs can be met through guest-worker programs that include meaningful labor protections and provide immigrant workers with a clear path to permanent residency and citizenship.

Others disagree that future flows should be addressed through a guest-worker program, and believe that future workers should be admitted as full partners into our society and our workplaces through the current "green card" employment based visa system, rather than through guest-worker programs - which they believe to be inherently exploitative.

Under either framework, any program designed to meet the proven needs of employers for new labor must fully protect the rights of both immigrant workers as well as those already here. A proposal that simply forces established workers to leave the U.S. after a short period of time will only encourage them to remain here illegally.