ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the rapid expansion of the H-2A visa program, a form of managed migration that that sends thousands of mostly Mexican peasants and rural workers to the United States for periods of up to ten months annually. The chapter argues that the numerical increase and geographical expansion of the program have their immediate roots in rural depression in the sending countries and repressive U.S. immigration policies toward Mexico. However, it also argues that many employers who recruit through the program under the force of circumstances learn to manipulate it to their benefit, recuperating many of the costs and superexploiting the migrant labor force. The chapter also makes the case that workers’ search for a “good” employer and a “dual frame of reference” in which workers compare their earning potential in the United States with that in their home communities keeps many returning year after year.
