We already have a guest worker program

It's called ICE -- Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

ICE agents roamed the streets of New Orleans for weeks while thousands of undocumented workers were hired by FEMA hurricane cleanup contractors -- workers, who, because of their illegal status, work for less, and are taken advantage of. One agent admitted to me that the orders were to NOT do enforcement activities.

Those were jobs that unemployed, displaced locals could have been doing. Contractors lived in tents? So? I bet if you recruited displaced residents at FEMA and Red Cross aid centers around the country, you'd have seen more than enough willing workers.

Thunder in the House has a good analysis of the hypocrisy behind President Bush's call for a guest worker program.

More:

Jay Root and Aaron Davis, "Undocumented immigrants flock to jobs on Gulf Coast," Sun-Herald.

Rovert Lovato, "Gulf Coast Slaves," Salon.com, reprinted in truthout.org.

"Undocumented workers catch hell in New Orleans ...," DailyKOS.

"Slaving for Halliburton in New Orleans," New Mexico Indy Media.