– Bush's initiative stirred a whole flurry of emotions in America; it was attacked from all sides. First of all, the Democratic Party and American trade unions came out against the law, seeing in George Bush's legislative initiative and the big business behind him an intention to lower wages in the country by attracting cheap labor from abroad. While still governor of Texas, Bush promised to obtain temporary work visas for Mexican guest workers. The bill indeed provided for temporary access to the country for 400,000 foreign workers a year. Because of this, opponents of the law argued that it allows for the permanent creation of a class of people deprived of civil rights. The law provided for foreigners to be given three two-year terms with a one-year break, which they were to spend outside the United States. The law offered them a three-year work visa if they passed a thorough check, paid a fine of up to $10,000, found employment, had no police record, and learned English.
The weak point of the bill was the 12 million illegal immigrants already living in the United States. These are not only Mexicans. About ten percent are Poles and Ukrainians, Filipinos, some Africans and Arabs. Cultural chauvinists also opposed the law, whose discontent with immigrants boils down to the Russian phrase 'they have flooded in here.' They thought the illegals would receive an amnesty and become full-fledged U.S. citizens.
– Did it provide for granting U.S. citizenship to illegal immigrants?
– The law was generally unworkable. The citizenship procedure was surrounded with such bureaucratic obstacles that American citizenship was hardly in store for anyone. An elderly Polish cleaning woman works at our university – Pani Regina. She called this law an outrage. Not only would you have to wait ten years after returning to your homeland to get citizenship, but you also had to pay a $10,000 fine for each family member for illegal presence.
– How are immigrants treated in America?
– In Chicago, where I live, there are up to one and a half million Mexican immigrants. Americans still work as bus drivers and garbage collectors. In other unskilled service sectors, immigrants work. There are two television programs in Spanish and one in Chinese in the city. Attitudes toward immigrants vary. Some Americans believe that the low earnings of immigrants lower wages in the country. Many fear that residents of large and small cities will start speaking Spanish. Sociological studies show: people begin to think their neighborhood is turning Mexican when 2% of residents are Mexican. When that number reaches 10%, people conclude that it is no longer possible to live there and start moving out. As always, fears are exaggerated. Interestingly, the most active opponents of immigrants live in Wyoming, where the population is about 500,000 and there are no immigrants at all.
– What place do illegal immigrants occupy in America's employment system?
– Last year, the largest May Day demonstration in U.S. history took place. It was held under the slogan 'A Day Without Immigrants.' In Chicago alone, 700,000 people participated. At that time, I had Ukrainian shabashnik construction workers – also illegals. May 1 fell on a Monday. So they made an arrangement with me to work on Sunday so they would be free on Monday. 'Are you going fishing?' I asked. 'No, we are going to a protest demonstration.' I was surprised: since when do post-Soviet people go to protest demonstrations? It turned out the demonstration was organized by DJs who played music on radio stations listened to by truck drivers, builders, and shabashniks. They invited everyone who mows lawns, washes dishes, cuts up 'Bush legs', does unskilled labor, to take to the streets and show how many of them there are. As a result, in Los Angeles there were no traffic jams all day because 90% of trucks did not go out on their runs.
Now, in our state of Illinois around Chicago, farmers are 'rebelling.' They threaten to bury the entire melon harvest back into the ground because there is no one to pick it. Farmers pay illegals $8 an hour; white Americans demand at least $20. The harvest will simply be 'golden.'
– Is immigration for the United States a boon or a curse?
– Immigration everywhere creates new sectors for the use of cheap labor. This is good for employers, but bad for the state that collects taxes. It is bad for people who are pushed out of the labor market. America has seriously aged. In 1965, when the pension system was created, the average American lived five years after retirement. Now that period has increased by 15–20 years. Medical costs for caring for the elderly are very high, and cheap labor is the only thing Americans can save on.
But there is another side to the coin. Immigrants also get sick and need medical care, but they pay little in taxes, which places a heavy burden on the social security system. Mexicans work not only in the fields. Huge service staffs are needed in nursing homes, hotels, and dormitories. Americans do not go there to work. They cannot do without immigrants, but they are also unable to solve the problem of illegal immigration, which for them is comparable to the Iraq problem.