Migrant workers get boost

Mexico's president is embracing an immigration proposal with open arms, but Hispanic leaders in Saginaw County call the plan nothing more than an election-year tactic.

Vicente Fox and President Bush put aside their differences by forging an agreement last week over migrant workers.

Fox wholeheartedly welcomed Bush's immigration proposal to grant legal status to millions of undocumented workers in the United States, most of them from Mexico.

Under the plan, illegal immigrants or someone abroad may apply for a renewable three-year work permit. Employers, however, must show that no Americans wanted the job.

Jose Valderas, an assistant superintendent for migrant and bilingual education in the Saginaw School District, said the timing of Bush's plan is suspect.

Bush and Fox haven't had serious conferences in two years, and now -- in an election year -- Bush is offering an immigration overhaul for the Legislature to mull.

"My first reaction when I heard about this was that it would have been more significant if this discussion was not during an election year," Valderas said.

"Immigration will continue to be a problem, but this political ploy may be successful, and Bush may get more of the Hispanic vote.

"I don't know. I didn't vote for him."

If Bush's plan gains approval, Valderas said, it will create a backlash from Americans who already feel that Mexicans are snatching jobs away from them.

"Thus the anti-Mexican immigration (sentiment) becomes even more of an issue," he said.

"They think Americans are taking jobs away, but they're not interested in those types of jobs."

David Gamez, president and chief executive officer for Health Delivery Inc., agrees.

"If it wasn't for the migrant worker, you wouldn't have lettuce and other vegetables on your table because nobody wants to do that kind of labor in this country," he said.

"Bush's plan has little chance of passing, but at least they're talking about immigration again."

Gamez oversees the Saginaw Valley nonprofit network of federally funded health centers for migrant workers and other low-income residents.

The centers serve between 3,000 to 4,000 migrant workers in mid-Michigan.

Longtime Saginaw Hispanic activist Rosa Morales said she worries that Bush's plan will adversely affect migrant workers already in the United States.

"Will this take jobs away from them?" she asked. "We don't want that."

Morales is a member of the Hispanic Coalition for Quality Education and director of the Hispanics in Journalism Program and the Minorities in Journalism Program at Michigan State University.

Gilberto Guevara is program director with Hispanic Ministries, which provides immigration assistance through the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw.

He said Bush's proposal has a lot of holes in it.

"There are so many details that have to be ironed out," he said. "There is no guarantee that these (migrant workers) will be given citizenship, yet they will have to pay taxes like everybody else."

Guevara also wonders how the president's immigration plan would affect those already in the country.

"Are they going to say you've been here too long, you have to go?" he said. "I can see us dealing with these kinds of issues."

Saginaw City Councilman Daniel Soza said the situation is centered chiefly on politics and money.

"I know President Fox is excited about the plan, and why shouldn't he be? Where do you think the money migrants make will go?" he asked. "Right back to his homeland."

Soza said migrant workers should have the same opportunity at U.S. citizenship as other immigrants from the nation's past.

"That's what this country was founded on," he said. "If you earn your way, you deserve to stay."