In the current debate over immigration reform in the United States, “some suggest that we take the easy road and 'split the difference' among proposals for reform from lawmakers—to choose political expediency and legalize immigrants without offering any chance for them to earn citizenship,” writes AFL-CIO Director of Immigration and Community Action Ana Avendaño, in a column in The Guardian today.

That's wrong. That's the road to an America of permanent second-class workers, and it's a violation of our basic values.

A road map to citizenship is now a real possibility for 11 million aspiring citizens, thanks to immigration reform blueprints from President Obama and a bipartisan group of senators.

But DREAMer Rafael Lopez reminds us that it will take real hard work and persistence to make citizenship a reality for the millions of aspiring Americans. Check out Lopez's thoughts in the YouTube video in the post. 

President Obama is announcing his plan for comprehensive immigration reform and a road map to citizenship today at 2:55 p.m. EST. Tune into the live feed from the White House here, and follow live updates from the AFL-CIO delegation that is at Del Sol High School to hear the president speak. 

A bipartisan group of senators released a blueprint for comprehensive immigration reform this afternoon, including a pathway to citizenship for some 11 million undocumented immigrants. The group includes Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Michael Bennett (D-Colo.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

President Obama will announce his immigration reform platform Tuesday, Jan. 29, in Las Vegas around 2 p.m. EST. A delegation from the AFL-CIO will attend this event to support the push for comprehensive immigration reform and the road map to citizenship for the 11 million aspiring citizens.

Ask Los Angeles Times reporter Alana Semuels why union membership in California rose by 100,000 in 2012, and she’ll give you a simple answer:

“Latino workers.”

To explain the contrast between the trend in California and the United States as a whole—where union membership dropped last year by 400,000—Semuels turned to some credible sources, including Steve Smith of the state labor federation who cited “an appetite among these low-wage workers to try to get a collective voice to give themselves opportunity and a middle-class lifestyle.”

While most states saw a decline in union membership in 2012, California bucked the trend as 100,000 new workers joined collective bargaining units. Pushing the growth were Latino workers and nurses, the Los Angeles Times reported today. Overall, 11.3% of America's workers are current union members, which is a smaller percentage from 2011, but in California, the number is closer to 18% and is growing. Other southwestern states, such as Nevada and Texas, are also seeing growth in union membership.

Christian Torres worked as a cook in the Pomona College dining hall for more than six years. Torres and 16 of his co-workers were fired from Pomona College for not re-verifying their work eligibility after the college asked for documents, which were requested while he was leading an effort to organize to form a union. Torres and his brother came to the United States while still teenagers to join their mother and father who were already in the U.S. He supports the movement to create a common-sense immigration process. Although Torres was fired from Pomona, he continues to support his co-workers in their struggle for better working conditions at the college. 

The prospects for comprehensive immigration reform are the highest in years. Politicians on both sides of the aisle are currently negotiating a bill, and President Obama has stated that it is one of his top legislative priorities in 2013. Speculation abounds as to what may be included in a final package but, generally speaking, comprehensive reform of our immigration system would consist of four interconnected parts: border security, internal and worksite immigration enforcement, a system to manage future immigration to the United States and a road map to citizenship for the undocumented population currently living here. The union movement has a unified framework, which addresses these points.

A new poll shows that the vast majority of Americans support common sense immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for current undocumented immigrants. The bipartisan poll found that 73 percent favored immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for aspiring citizens and that requires immigrants to pay taxes, holds employers accountable for hiring legal workers and prevents them from exploiting immigrant labor and improves border security.

Immigration reform is rapidly becoming a legislative priority in 2013 and policymakers have been outlining the components of a comprehensive package, including the expansion of employment-related visas like the H-2 temporary work visa programs. More than 100,000 workers are recruited from abroad for employment in the United States each year under the H-2 programs, to work in such industries as agriculture, landscaping, forestry and hospitality. Today at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., the Centro de Los Derechos del Migrante (CDM, Center for Migrant Rights) released a new report, “Recruitment Revealed: Fundamental Flaws in the H-2 Temporary Worker Program and Recommendations for Change,” which exposes substantial defects in the program’s recruitment systems and proposes policy changes that would prevent future exploitation and abuse. The report is the result of an intensive, multisource investigative study that involved more than 220 interviews with recruited workers.