Seasoning Labor: Contemporary South Asian Migrations and the Racialization of Immigrant Workers

• Published in: Journal of Asian American studies Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 31 - 52
• Main Author: Verma, SaunJuhi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press 01.02.2019
• Subjects: Asian American studies; Asian Americans; Brokers; Construction; Construction Industry; Diaspora; Dissent; Employers; Energy industry; Ethnography; Foreign Workers; Immigrants; Immigration; Informal economy; Labor force; Labor market; Laborers; Loanwords; Marketing; Migrants; Migration; Noncitizens; Petroleum industry; Race; Racialization; Recruitment; Vegetables; Wages; Workers; Working conditions; Middle East; United States > US; India; South Asia
• ISSN: 1097-2129; 1096-8598; 1096-8598
• DOI: 10.1353/jaas.2019.0004

[...]some of my findings shared elsewhere outline the role of the visa system in rendering guest workers dependent upon employers.12 However, restricted legal documentation alone does not explain the entirety of how migrants are subjugated. [...]the market expansion of SWANA-oriented labor brokerage firms into new regions such as the North American industrial construction industry presents a fruitful site of study. Labor brokers misinform migrants so as to construct demand for the United States as a desirable destination. Since guest worker status will not differ significantly between the two regions, brokers misrepresent the nature of U.S. employment to redirect migration from SWANA to North America. [...]to the fee structure of migration to SWANA, workers consent to paying fifteen to twenty thousand dollars with the assumption that the investment will be reimbursed through future salaries and a longer stay in the United States. Since broker fees are collected prior to migration, laborers solicit loan sharks or use their houses as collateral to provide brokers compensation for their services.