The Immigration Debate: How to Confuse a Conflict Theorist

            From the perspective of a conflict theorist, The underlying issues and stances in the debate over illegal immigration to the United States are confusing.  Americans, consumers and farmers, exploit the efforts of migrant farm laborers.  Migrant workers are further exploited by the human smugglers, coyotes, paying approximately $4,000 to be smuggled into the U.S..  Americans, especially from the “right” are demanding the imposition and enforcement of tough immigration laws (that would basically eliminate the labor pool to work the farms and surely increase consumer costs dramatically) while advocacy groups are resisting efforts to reduce the influx of migrant workers willing at least to accept the status quo.  It’s confusing because a conflict theorist would expect their positions to be reversed. 

            Conflict Theory states that society is composed of two classes who are social enemies: the capitalists, or bourgeoisie, and the exploited workers, the proletariat.  The capitalists own the factories, land, and capital etc. and benefit from the exploitation of the workers.  Carl Marx, the author of this theory, believed that the tension between these two classes was the engine of change throughout human history; that the tension builds until the workers revolt against the capitalists in a bloody revolution leading to a classless society.

            Now the issue with immigration is this: the U.S. agriculture sector wants workers to harvest their crops at the lowest possible cost.  Immigrant workers have historically filled this requirement allowing the crops to come to harvest at minimum expense.  Whether family farms or corporate farms the model is the same, bring the workers in according to the demands of the growing-harvest season then release them.  The average wages for such workers is roughly $9.00 per hour while the corresponding wage for non-farm workers in 2007 was roughly $17.00 (Martin).  The farmers depending on migrant workers to work their farms can clearly be cast into the role of capitalists exploiting the migrant workers especially given the arduous nature of the labor and the wages that are barely above minimum wage.

            Alabama, with its tough new immigration laws, found that the flight of migrant laborers caused such a labor shortage that many farmers were not only going to have to let some crops die on the vine, they were also worrying about next year as well (Reves, Caldwell).  Attempts to hire unemployed Americans or prison workers were less cost effective since the labor was too hard for even the unemployed and the prisoners lack the same level of motivation and efficiency exhibited by the migrant workers.  Those who’ve enacted the tougher legislation are convinced that market forces will provide workers from the ranks of the unemployed, but market forces, if they do satisfy the requirement, will drive an increase in wages to satisfy the demands of the work, which cost will be passed onto the American consumer.  As Gregory Rodriguez of the LA Times said in  an editorial in 2007:

“All three of these arrangements—undocumented workers, prison labor, and a guest worker program—pretty much operate under the same principle.  In each case, farmers want indispensible labor to also be disposable.  Like the nation at large, they think they can benefit from temporary labor without having to accommodate and integrate permanent laborers.  But that’s the very illusion that has gotten us into this immigration mess in the first place (Rodriguez).”

I acknowledge there are a lot of other issues cited in the debate, but they are mostly ancillary misrepresentations and the core of the problem is as described above; the capitalists want to impose and enforce laws that will stop them from exploiting the workers and the workers, and their advocates, want to at least maintain the status quo and continued exploitation.  Marx must be scratching his head over this one.

References:

Martin, Philip. “Farm Labor Shortages: How Real? What Response.  Center for Immigration Studies  November 2007

Reves, Jay, Caldwell, Alicia A.  “Few Americans Take Immigrants’ Jobs in Alabama.” Salt Lake Tribune 20 Oct. 2011, online ed.

Rodriguez, Gregory. “Disposable Workers Wanted in Colorado.”  Los Angeles Times 30 Apr. 2007 online ed.