Gregory Cendana, executive director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), warns that the national debate around creating a commonsense immigration process “has largely ignored a disturbing trend in businesses: the modern-day indentured servitude of temporary workers.”

With reports that comprehensive immigration reform legislation being shaped by the U.S. Senate’s “Gang of Eight” may reduce the number of family visas for aspiring citizens, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and a group of faith leaders today reiterated that family reunification is a core tenet of creating a commonsense immigration process.

This week, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) joined what Washington Post's Greg Sargent calls the "slow down" caucus. Meaning Rubio, who is a member of the "Gang of Eight", and a group of Republicans are starting to back away from creating a commonsense immigration process for the nation's 11 million aspiring citizens. 

In case you missed it over the weekend, check out C-SPAN's Newsmakers segment with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka talking about creating a commonsense immigration process for aspiring Americans that benefits all workers. 

See video after the jump or click here:

It was announced over the weekend the bipartisan Senate "Gang of Eight" came to an agreement in principle on a major aspect of creating a commonsense immigration process that benefits all workers. 

This agreement includes a new kind of worker visa program called the W-Visa, which will work for everyone, not just employers. 

Read five things you need to know about this new employer-based visa after the jump. 

What’s behind Republicans’ demands that surfaced last week that legislation to create a commonsense immigration process for America's 11 million aspiring citizens institutionalizes poverty wages and drags down workers already in the United States? Bloomberg columnist Margaret Carlson sums it up succinctly.     

Who wants to adversely affect “wages and working conditions” of American workers? Employers, that’s who….Businesses (read: “Republicans”) would like an oversupply of labor to ensure a cheap price.

Imagine 2050 sends us the following story from its blog.

The AFL-CIO and the SEIU are standing up to Republicans and business groups for fair wages in federal immigration reform. While the group of bipartisan senators, called the “Gang of Eight,” working on the immigration bill say that the bill is 90% done, much contention remains around the "guest" worker provisions in the bill. [In fact, the so-called “guest” worker provisions in the bill are not “guest” worker provisions at all. The AFL-CIO has insisted that any new foreign workers be allowed a road map to citizenship and portability between employers so that they are not indentured to a single employer as a condition of remaining in the United States —as is the case under most existing temporary worker programs.]   

Tonight at 8:30 p.m. EDT, don't forget to join the AFL-CIO for a webinar on creating an immigration process that includes a road map to citizenship and why this issue is so important.

A bill that creates a commonsense immigration process for America's 11 million aspiring citizens is in jeopardy because of Republican demands for poverty wages.

Key Republican senators in the "Gang of Eight", negotiating on the behalf of the business community, corporations and the extreme right-wing, rejected adding language to the bill that would ensure new W-visas would only be issued when employing foreign workers would not hurt wages and working conditions of workers already in the United States.

This language is already a longstanding law for temporary worker programs including the H-2B and other visa programs. The Chamber of Commerce in negotiations with the AFL-CIO already agreed to including this language.

Ana Avendaño, assistant to the president and director of immigration and community action at the AFL-CIO, sent the following message to working family activists:

Immigration has been all the buzz here in Washington, and you might have heard about it on your local news or radio station. 

It’s great news, because the story of immigrants in this country is rich and complex, and there’s a lot that goes into finding a road map to citizenship for the 11 million aspiring Americans. 

We’re hosting an online education session next week in the evening for anyone who wants to learn more about why the AFL-CIO is so invested in this fight for a commonsense immigration process. We want you to be there, so every member of our community knows how to talk about this issue. Will you join us?