What Is Illegal The Project?
We are a non-profit educational organization that aims to end the current labor shortage impacting our industries (namely agriculture, hospitality, and construction), provide a legal path to employment for guest workers who wish to work in the U.S. seasonally, and end illegal employment and the exploitation of undocumented workers.
We want to see an end to the luring of desperate workers by a system of employment that not only puts lives at risk but also separates families here and abroad.
We are not blue or red. We are human, and together, we can support workers and our industries.
Please Watch This Short Documentary: Path To Prosperity - Improving The U.S. Guest Worker Program
Our Goal: Incremental Change
Mission: Push for incremental changes to current immigration laws that can have a meaningful impact rather than getting bogged down in “comprehensive reform” that often gets stalled due to various objections. We believe that making improvements to the current guest worker program will have an immediate impact on the US economy and reduce overall immigration, (including illegal immigration), by providing a program that works well for guest workers, who know they can return to their home country instead of feeling compelled to bring their families to the U.S.
Goal: Create a system that works for both employers and prospective guest workers by holding employers
accountable to follow US laws, but also provide a system that is efficient and easy for employers to use in advertising for and employing guest workers.
Additionally, create a system that requires guest workers to be responsible, of high quality, and pay into our tax system, while also providing for a program that is easy for them to take part in, with confidence that they will be allowed to travel back and forth to their home country to support and spend time with their families. The system should be one that holds all participants (employers & employees) accountable, allowing employers to plan for a consistent seasonal workforce and employees to plan for consistent seasonal work that allows them to return home after the season and come back for a new season of work.
Solution: Support for legislation that mirrors the Farm Bill Modernization Act of 2019. This legislation provided the above elements and received bipartisan support in the House at passage.
Think Of It This Way...
If you leave an open jar of honey on your kitchen table it is likely to attract a caravan of ants. You can build a wall around it or send an entire army to guard it, but the ants will find a way in... Which poses the question: Would it be more effective to simply take the honey away?
Why is this not a part of the national conversation? Why are the workers we lure into our country criminalized while their employers are not held accountable?
WHO We HELP
Employers, Workers and American Citizens
Our vision for this movement is to create thriving industries and an economy and nation no longer affected by labor shortages. In order to achieve this, we need legal and humane guest worker programs that will put an end to the illegal employment and exploitation of undocumented workers.
Our solution calls for congress to pass legislation that creates functional guest worker programs (that meet the needs of our industries) in tandem with tough enforcement of a revamped E-Verify system (that accurately verifies the legal status of employees).
Employers
Our plan will end the labor shortage impacting our agriculture, hospitality, construction, and other industries.
Workers
Our plan will provide a legal path to employment for guest workers who wish to work in the US seasonally.
American Citizens
The impact of the labor shortage is evidenced by a continued decrease in commercial agriculture production, the inability of home builders to keep up with the demand for homes, and the inability of restaurant and hotel operators to find and retain staff. This problem is threatening our food supply, fueling the affordable housing crisis, and hindering our economy from the growth it is capable of
Our plan does not solve all of our country's immigration issues. It doesn’t cover the future of DACA Dreamers, asylum seekers, and refugees. It is not a perfect solution. But, "not perfect" does not mean "not good".
This kind of common-sense legislation would provide a legal and humane path for workers while providing our industries with the labor they need. To the degree we improve guest worker programs to meet the needs of our economy, we will also solve the illegal immigration problem. And, we can do this at a fraction of the $7 billion spent annually on immigration enforcement.