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Coming to AmericaFelicia Mello
In the June 25, 2007 issue of The Nation, investigative journalist Felicia Mello reports on a neglected dimension of the controversial guest worker debate: the workers.
It's late afternoon at the Latin Labor Solutions recruitment office in Monterrey, Mexico, and hundreds of prospective workers are crammed into the narrow alleyway between the office and the building next door, waiting restlessly in the 90-degree heat. They perch on duffel bags or lean against the stucco walls...Many have traveled for days, with little sleep, from distant villages. In a few minutes they will discover whether the US Consulate has approved their application for temporary labor visas or if they must return home defeated.Mello reports how a program "designed to open up the legal labor market and provide a piece of the American dream to immigrants" has instead led to thousands of immigrants mired in what Congressman Charles Rangel calls "the closest thing I've ever seen to slavery." One organizer agrees: "Do you know the story of the Middle Passage?" he asks. "In slavery, you send a slave catcher, they go to the chiefs and make a deal. They say, We're going to take your people to heaven, and they show them a few pretty things from heaven. You load them onto the ships and only when they get out to sea do they know they're slaves. You take them to one owner, and if they leave they're a runaway. Well, with guest workers..." He trails off, his meaning clear.Read the full article here. |
 
The Nation Institute's Investigative Fund provides support for the research costs associated with investigative journalism. The Fund emphasizes reporting on subjects often ignored by the mainstream media, and seeks to improve the scope and overall quality of investigative reporting in the independent press. Above all, we want to support reporting with the potential to have a social impact. The Fund encourages its grant recipients to publish their findings in a variety of print, broadcast and electronic outlets. Director Joe Conason and investigative editor Esther Kaplan initiate and oversee Investigative Fund projects. Joe is an award-winning investigative reporter and a national correspondent for The New York Observer and a columnist for Salon.com. Esther is a longtime reporter and editor and author of the investigative book With God on Their Side: George W. Bush and the Christian Right. The first step in applying is to email us a story query and a budget request. It's useful to include information about what's new and enterprising about the research, your reporting approach, the story's potential impact, and what publication or broadcast outlet is interested in the piece. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. |