Daniel Castellanos
DC: My name is Daniel Castellanos. I am co-founder of the National Guestworker Alliance, which is an organisation of people that came to work with a visa in the U.S. We have been organising workers for more than 10 years now, mainly in response to working conditions, which are very difficult. As a former guestworker myself, I know how difficult they are. I am originally from Peru and am a father of two children. I saw that in order to become a guestworker you have to plunge your family into major debt. For example, I had to pay $5000 to come to the U.S. – and that is a hell of a lot of money. The second big issue we face is that as a guestworker you are tied to only one employer – you cannot leave your employer without losing your visa. This is horrible. You, as a free person, can go to find work wherever you want, but I don’t have this right as a guestworker in the U.S. I am tied to one employer no matter whether he treats me well or poorly. I have to stay with him, he has my contract, and if he doesn’t like me he can just call the police department and have me deported. This is what we are fighting against. The U.S. government doesn’t understand. They think this guestworker scheme is a win- win situation, but it is not.
BTS: So the issue with guestwork is that even if you arrive legally the exploitation is still very serious?
