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<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> Democrats.com
[mailto:activist@democrats.com] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, May 01, 2007 12:41
PM<BR><B>To:</B> leeloe@igc.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> Stop Guestworker
Exploitation<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
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<P align=left><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"
size=2><IMG height=1
src="http://mail.democrats.com:80/OT000175MTA0MzQx.GIF?D=2007-05-01"
width=1 NOSEND="1">Dear Lee, </FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"
size=2>For too long, our country has reaped economic benefits from
the labor of foreign guestworkers — but has ignored the incredible
abuses they endure. Guestworkers are routinely cheated out of wages;
charged exorbitant fees to obtain low-wage, temporary jobs;
virtually enslaved by employers; forced to live in squalid
conditions; and denied medical benefits for injuries. </FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"
size=2><STRONG><A
href="http://mail.democrats.com/CT00017501MTA0MzQx.HTML?D=2007-05-01"
target=_blank>I hope you'll sign this petition.</A>
</STRONG><BR></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"
size=2>Bob Fertik </FONT></P>
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<TD><IMG height=185
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<H3><FONT size=2>Southern Poverty Law Center
<BR>Petition to Stop Guestworker Abuse
</FONT></H3>
<P class=splcnews><FONT size=2><STRONG><A
href="http://mail.democrats.com/CT00017502MTA0MzQx.HTML?D=2007-05-01"
target=_blank>Sign our petition</A> </STRONG>and
help stop the virtual enslavement and abuse of
guestworkers. </FONT></P>
<P class=splcnews><FONT size=2><A
href="http://mail.democrats.com/CT00017504MTA0MzQx.HTML?D=2007-05-01"
target=_blank><IMG
src="http://www.splcenter.org/images/newsletter/signpet.jpg"
align=right NOSEND="1"></A>If you believe in the
American ideals of fairness and human dignity,
you'll be appalled at the way tens of thousands of
foreign "guestworkers" are being systematically
exploited in a government-sanctioned program that
many describe as modern-day slavery. </FONT></P>
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<TD class=footer vAlign=top
bgColor=#efefef><FONT size=2><BR>"We had no
electricity. The first week we were not paid.
The second week we were paid $70." <BR>— Mexican
H-2B worker <BR><BR>"El patron would put a lock
on the gate where our trailers were. After a
time, they would not let us communicate with
other people." <BR>— Mexican H-2A tomato worker
<BR><BR>"I felt like an animal without claws —
defenseless. It is the same as slavery." <BR>—
Dominican H-2B hotel worker
<BR><BR></FONT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><FONT
size=2>These are the workers, mostly poor Latinos,
who are lured here by U.S. businesses with
promises of decent jobs only to be cheated out of
their wages; forced to live in squalid conditions;
and denied medical benefits for injuries. If the
workers complain, they face deportation,
blacklisting, and other forms of retaliation.
</FONT></P>
<P class=splcnews><FONT size=2>We've documented
the abuses in a new report — <I>Close to Slavery:
Guestworker Programs in the United States </I>—
and are filing lawsuits against the most abusive
employers. </FONT></P>
<P class=splcnews><FONT size=2>But there is an
ominous cloud on the horizon. </FONT></P>
<P class=splcnews><FONT size=2>Right now,
President Bush and many in Congress are pushing to
create a vast new pool of temporary foreign
workers. This will only cause more suffering and
injustice — and it will undermine the rights and
wages of American workers as well. </FONT></P>
<P class=splcnews><FONT size=2>As a nation, we
must fix our broken immigration system. But we
must not condone a program that abuses and
enslaves poor workers from other countries who are
lured under false pretenses. </FONT></P>
<P class=splcnews><FONT size=2>Congress has the
opportunity to right this terrible wrong. But
lawmakers will act only if the American people
speak out strongly against this moral outrage.
</FONT></P>
<P class=splcnews><FONT size=2><A
href="http://mail.democrats.com/CT00017505MTA0MzQx.HTML?D=2007-05-01"
target=_blank><IMG
src="http://www.splcenter.org/images/newsletter/signpet.jpg"
align=right NOSEND="1"></A>You can make a
difference. Please <STRONG><A
href="http://mail.democrats.com/CT00017503MTA0MzQx.HTML?D=2007-05-01"
target=_blank>sign our petition</A>
</STRONG></FONT><FONT size=2>to stop guestworker
abuse.
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