Past has cautionary lessons for guest-worker programs

Since World War II, "the Swiss tried it with the Italians and Spanish, the Germans tried it with the Turks, and the French with the Algerians," says Paul Heise, professor of economics at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa. "Everywhere, it has been a disaster for both the welfare of the workers and the moral character of the employing country."

The biggest problem of all, some say, is that once workers and their families become established in a new country, they do not want to leave. "The main lesson of previous guest-worker programs in the US and across Europe is that there is nothing more permanent than a temporary worker," says Rosemary Jenks, of Numbers USA, which works to limit immigration. "History has yet to find an effective and humane way to make them go home."

Often, workers develop families and roots in their adopted countries but cannot become citizens and thus live a kind of second-class status.

Besides spelling out an answer on getting workers to leave - including funding for enforcement and penalties for noncompliance - experts on both sides say policymakers should put strong worker protections in any guest-worker program.

"One of the past mistakes of guest-worker programs here is that employers had too much leverage in sending workers home, which left the worker vulnerable to exploitation, sub-market wages and terrible conditions," says Dan Griswold, associate director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute. "The president has tried to remedy that by allowing workers to move more easily from job to job."

Experts also call for sanctions against employers who hire illegals knowingly. That was a goal in the 1986 amnesty, but experts say enforcement has largely lapsed. Moreover, the tide of illegal immigration has continued in succeeding years. Many worry that such details have been left out of Bush proposals for the moment, and that given current understaffing of the Border Patrol, new regulations will be laxly enforced.

Another concern: No matter what procedures are put in place, the system is likely to be overwhelmed by bureaucracy. "The people I talk to in government burst into laughter when they hear of another plan requiring technology and other tracking mechanism be put in place," says Scott Wright, an immigration lawyer with Faegre & Benson in Minneapolis. "Law enforcement all over the US is still waiting for money and machines for extra surveillance after 9/11."

Most advocates, however, welcome one aspect of the Bush proposal: It has put the prickly problem of immigration back in the forefront of national attention.

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