In recent years, labor unions and politicians they support have argued for a path to legal status for those who have lived in the United States for years without authorization. They also generally support changes to guest worker programs, used in seasonal industries like agriculture, fishing, hospitality and landscaping, that would raise pay and allow workers to move around to different jobs. Such provisions could make employers less likely to use those programs to undercut wages for Americans.
That’s the approach Daniel Costa favors. He is the director of Immigration Law and Policy Research at the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank funded partly by labor unions that advocates greater resources for the Department of Labor to go after employers that violate wage and hour laws. The agency does so in a way that is blind to immigration status, lifting conditions for all workers.
“It’s employers that are using immigration to degrade wages and standards,” Mr. Costa said. “Immigrants are being used as a scapegoat and being blamed, while a whole slew of policies that would actually improve conditions for workers are being ignored.”
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