Related Publications: Report, Panel Transcript
The Center for Immigration Studies held a panel discussion on the report series, "Cheap Labor as Cultural Exchange: The $100 Million Work Travel Industry". The discussion was held on Tuesday, March 13, 2012 at 9 a.m. in the Murrow Room at the National Press Club.
The report is based on five months of reporting by CIS senior research fellow and Pulitzer Prize-winning former journalist Jerry Kammer.
The series tells the story of the State Department's troubled Summer Work Travel (SWT) program and its rapid growth over the past 15 years into a $100 million international industry that has spread around the globe. SWT is emblematic of a larger problem with the nation's immigration system, where new programs are created and allowed to expand significantly without giving careful consideration to their impact on the labor market or the larger American society.