FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - In a presentation to the American Anthropological Association, a University of Arkansas researcher proposed that the very immigration policies intended to protect American workers from illegal immigrant labor may be undermining their ability to negotiate for better working conditions.

In addition, these policies resign Latin American workers to a lower class tier in the United States - a tier that offers them little leverage or protection when it comes to workers’ rights.

Steve Striffler, assistant professor of anthropology, says that guest-worker programs sponsored by the U.S. government continue to bring Latin American workers into the country, offering them jobs without granting them citizenship or full legal protection. The result is a schism within the American working class, dividing it by ethnicity and draining it of its power.

"Ambiguous immigration laws have set up a very convenient situation for businesses," Striffler said. "They’ve essentially created a second tier of workers, who have limited ability to organize because of their uncertain status. Not only can these guest workers be exploited through lower wages, but they can be used to threaten other, more organized workers."

In part, immigration policies are driven by corporate needs, Striffler explained. The louder corporations complain about labor shortages, the more welcoming the U.S. government becomes toward immigrant workers. But according to Striffler, these "labor shortages" are often exaggerated or even brought on by the corporations themselves. They occur because companies refuse to provide the level of salary and benefits that make their jobs appealing to Americans.

As Latin Americans enter the United States and filter into new communities, they invariably occupy the most physically-demanding and lowest-paying jobs on the market. But their presence doesn’t necessarily free American workers for better positions. Rather, the low wages that Latin Americans receive drive the pay scale down for everyone and often create an antagonistic relationship between immigrants and U.S.-born workers. This is exactly what corporations depend on, Striffler said.

As an anthropologist, Striffler has spent several years interviewing and observing Latin American agricultural workers, from poultry plants in the American South to fruit plantations in South America. He believes the solution is not to crack down on illegal workers but to offer immigrants an opportunity to protect their rights. Allowing them a proper place in the American working class would help all laborers improve their situations.

Since the 1980s, much of the Southern United States has experienced an influx of Latin American immigrants. In Arkansas alone, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that residents of Latin American origin grew from representing 0.8 percent of the population in 1990 to 3.2 percent in 2000.

Yet, after two decades of steady immigration, Latin Americans face many of the same difficulties that American workers have traditionally confronted with respect to organizing in the U.S. South. Worse yet, Latin Americans are also marginalized by language, legal status and racism.

Part of the problem is that the American South has a weak tradition of labor unions. As a result, there are few organizations to recruit Latin Americans and few models for immigrant workers to follow on their own. But Striffler claims that certain misperceptions have amplified the problem by convincing American workers that it’s futile to reach out at all.

"There’s a myth out there that you can’t organize immigrants. That’s not true of Latin Americans," Striffler said. "Rural, white Southerners often seem to have a visceral distrust of unions, but Latin Americans have a strong history of labor organizing back home."

What keeps Latin Americans most isolated - both from their class and from the communities in which they live - is the issue of ethnicity. As recent immigrants, many Latin Americans struggle to learn English. Until they do, language creates an obstacle to career advancement - disqualifying them for managerial positions.

In addition, language and cultural differences affect them socially, acting as a wall that prevents Latin Americans from interacting with the mainstream community. As a result, they tend to form their own communities within a given area.

"They are, to a certain degree, geographically and culturally isolated from much of mainstream Southern society. Consequently, increased levels of political organizing will have to come from within the Latin American community itself," Striffler stated.

But for such organizing to take on meaning, Latin Americans will have to forge alliances with U.S. workers, he added. This can be difficult due to the fact that labor organizations are relatively weak through the South and the United States as a whole.

"Latin Americans show a great deal of unity as workers, but for that to translate into organization, they’ll need outside support," Striffler said. "Like the rest of society, unions have been slow to react to the demographic change."