NCJ Number
234581
Date Published
2010
Length
68 pages
Annotation
This publication provides information on protecting undocumented women who work in the American food industry.
Abstract
Approximately 11 million people are now living and working in the United States without documentation. Millions of them are raising U.S.-born children. Deporting all of these immigrants would leave a $2.6 trillion hole in the U.S. economy over the next decade, not including the billions of dollars that would be required to enforce such a policy. U.S. immigration policy has not kept pace with these modern challenges of the growing immigrant workforce. This report calls for Congress to address the immigrant worker crisis in a comprehensive way that recognizes the contribution of these immigrants to the United States and its fundamental values of fairness and dignity. This report is based on extensive interviews conducted with 150 immigrant women from Mexico, Guatemala, and other Latin-American countries who have all have worked in the fields or factories that produce food for the American public. All have similar stories of wage theft, sexual harassment, pesticide poisoning, unsafe working conditions, and other abuses. Included in this report are specific policy recommendations to enact wholesale reforms at the Federal level which include a path to citizenship for the undocumented workers and stronger worker protections.