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Contribution to Book
Immigrant Workers and the Thirteenth Amendment
The Promises of Liberty: The History and Contemporary Relevance of the Thirteenth Amendment (2010)
  • Maria L. Ontiveros
Abstract

This chapter examines the treatment of immigrant workers through the lens of the Thirteenth Amendment. It examines how the intersection of labor and immigration laws impact immigrant workers in general, "guest workers" and undocumented immigrants. It argues that immigrant workers can be seen as a caste of nonwhite workers laboring beneath the floor for free labor in ways which violate the Thirteenth Amendment. Further, it suggests ways in which immigrant workers can use the Thirteenth Amendment to improve their situation and offers an analysis of how the Thirteenth Amendment can form a bridge for organizing between labor, civil rights, immigration rights and human rights groups. This chapter appears in The Promises of Liberty: The History and Contemporary Relevance of the Thirteenth Amendment (http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14144-4/the-promises-of-liberty), edited by Alexander Tsesis and published by Columbia University Press.

Keywords
  • Thirteenth Amendment,
  • Immigrant Workers,
  • Labor,
  • Constitution,
  • Immigration
Publication Date
2010
Editor
Alexander Tsesis
Publisher
Columbia University Press
Citation Information
Maria L. Ontiveros. "Immigrant Workers and the Thirteenth Amendment" New YorkThe Promises of Liberty: The History and Contemporary Relevance of the Thirteenth Amendment (2010)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/maria_ontiveros/5/