I got a letter asking me to sign a petition. I rehd the petition and only saw reasons not to sign it:

Tens of thousands of foreign "guestworkers" are being exploited through government-sanctioned programs. These workers are cheated out of their wages; forced to live in squalid conditions; and denied medical care for injuries. Some say this is modern-day slavery.

The Southern Poverty Law Center is fighting to protect these workers and end this abuse. You can help by urging Congress to fix this broken system.

(linked)Please sign Southern Poverty Law Center's petition to stop guestworker abuse now>>

Thank you!
Michael Lawley, Care2's Campaign Team

Southern Poverty Law Center Petition to Stop Guestworker Abuse (linked) Sign our petition and help stop the virtual enslavement and abuse of guestworkers. (linked) 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.

"We had no electricity. The first week we were not paid. The second week we were paid $70." - Mexican H-2B worker "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." - Mexican H-2A tomato worker "I felt like an animal without claws - defenseless. It is the same as slavery." - Dominican H-2B hotel worker

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.

We've documented the abuses in a new report - Close to Slavery: Guestworker Programs in the United States - and are filing lawsuits against the most abusive employers. 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. Not only does this system violate our most deeply held values, it undermines the rights and wages of American workers as well.

Congress has the opportunity to right this terrible wrong. Though lawmakers are unlikely to pass comprehensive immigration legislation this year, Congress can still reform the guestworker system.

But lawmakers will act only if the American people speak out strongly against this moral outrage. (linked) You can make a difference.

Please (linked)sign our petition to stop guestworker abuse. We'll make sure the president and the appropriate Members of Congress receive it. Your commitment to justice and acceptance is so important to us.

Thank you for your support.

Southern Poverty Law Center
400 Washington Ave.
Montgomery, AL 36104

If guestworkers can't take the abuse, the only legal recourse I would give them is TO LEAVE. The wages are not "theirs" until "they" posess them ... when no one can possibly take the wages, that is when they are posessed! "The ideals" and "dignity" are things that are received through "government-sanctioned exploitation!"

That could be one of the reasons why we citizens are led to believe we live in a "democracy": because no one wants to believe "they are being made 'a government-sanctioned tool' for those who know how to use 'the currency of the realm'" (which is truly how our government works ... oh, "every person" is free to make his way through the muck of this world to the shining castle-in-the-sky; but each enters this country only as powerful as he has been made!)