State Effects on Labor Exploitation

■ The power of enforcing labor control and exploitation is often attrib uted to states. However, such claims need careful empirical and analytical verifi cation. In order to do this, we should view states 'from below', involving state agencies, state workers, and the policed population, elements that are ignored in most state theories. In the case of undocumented immigrants who cross the United States-Mexico border to work, US state actions do add to exploitation. The smuggling, transportation and job arrangements required to overcome border and interior enforcement lead undocumented immigrants to enter con spiracies to avoid the law that are, in turn, used against them in workplaces. US undocumented immigration policy seen from below is not a deliberate system for labor control, but it follows a consistent pattern of stigmatizing immigrant labor, forcing it into an exploitative underworld. This analysis unites the current anti-immigration theme in US politics and the actual persistence of illegal, exploited labor in that nation.