ABSTRACT
Passage of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act marked the end of an era. The legacy of race-based exclusion in immigrant entry into the United States came to a close. The US Guest Worker Program was designed to provide visas for temporary workers to labour in seasonal industries and return to their countries of origin; there is no pathway to citizenship or permanent settlement, especially for low wage workers. The complexities of how the law becomes complicit in compromising worker rights involve interdependent activities among all three groups of stakeholders: employers, labour brokers, and government officials. This chapter explores how employers select from among a low wage workforce and identify "manageable" workers is critical for initiating multi-country business practices within the migration industry. It outlines how the historic migratory circuit of South Asian migrant recruitment for employment in the Middle East oil economy is connected to the recent growth in the US oil industry.
