Immigration, yes. Indentured serfdom, no

The dark side of immigration reform: A new "guest worker program" that's as close as we may get to modern slavery

By Michael Lind, Salon
January 29, 2013

The outlines of a bipartisan plan for immigration reform have been announced by a group of senators. While most of its provisions are reasonable — a path to citizenship for most illegal immigrants, increased skilled immigration and increased law enforcement — one provision stinks to high heaven and should be rejected by Americans of left, right and center. That provision is a massive, special-interest-driven expansion of indentured servitude in the United States, in the form of a new “guest-worker program.” (President Obama, while hailing the plan in general on Tuesday, has not weighed in on the specifics of the guest-worker program.)

Indentured servitude or contract labor, like slavery, is a form of unfree labor. Unfortunately, the U.S., having abolished slavery, still has pockets of indentured servant labor. [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.salon.com/2013/01/30/immigration_yes_indentured_serfdom_no/