Join the Schell Center for International Human Rights and Migration that Works for a timely panel discussion centered on how expansion of the temporary visa (or guestworker) programs could impact workers in the state of Connecticut and beyond. The panel will cover the current state of the guestworker programs, with key information about our current immigration context and the guestworker programs’ impacts on workers and families; and timely opportunities to protect Connecticut workers and advance an alternative human rights based model for labor migration.
Over a million people have lost or stand to lose their temporary protected status (TPS), including work permits and protection from deportation, after the Supreme Court’s recent decision allowing the administration to end TPS for Haiti and Syria and endangering TPS for people from many other countries. Countless immigrant families and people seeking asylum are being stripped of their work permits and targeted for detention and deportation. Families fear the devastating consequences of these policies. As many as 9,460 people with TPS and 682,000 immigrants in Connecticut could be impacted by these policies. And many Connecticut communities and employers worry about the economy and labor shortages that will ensue or be exacerbated.
Instead of protecting our immigrant and migrant communities, proposals in Congress would expand the guestworker programs to fill labor shortages. These programs are fundamentally flawed: they tie migrant workers to their employers, dissuading workers from speaking up when they face wage theft, unsafe working conditions, or discrimination, making them vulnerable to retaliation, forced labor, and other human rights abuses. By lowering the floor for worker protections, expanding these programs will harm workers’ wages and working conditions. These developments raise fundamental questions of international human rights law — including non-refoulement, freedom from forced labor, and the rights of migrant workers — that are increasingly playing out in Connecticut's own communities and economy.
Coffee and light refreshments will be provided. Please register in advance.
No press, photographers,or filming will be permitted during the session — there will be a professional photographer on site.
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Co-sponsored by the Schell Center for International Human Rights and Migration that Works.