The Senate Judiciary Committee took an important step last night toward assuring that workers’ interests are at the forefront of immigrant reform. It is no coincidence that the committee rejected the mean-spirited approach to reform of our immigration laws adopted by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives last December when it adopted HR 4437. Nearly a million people have taken to the streets in recent weeks, rejecting the notion that otherwise law-abiding immigrants should be labeled as “criminals” simply because they lack formal status. We echo the cries of our immigrant brothers and sisters in calling for an end to name-calling and divisive rhetoric and a real solution to our broken immigration system.
We applaud Senator Arlen Specter’s leadership and the committee’s work in crafting a bill that includes a path to citizenship for the millions of currently undocumented workers who are an essential part of our economy and who for too long have been forced to labor in oppressive conditions. For those immigrants already here, the bill voted out of Committee yesterday recognizes that immigrant workers have a right to labor with dignity, and reinforces that the values that define America—freedom, justice and equality—are available to all.
We commend Sen. Durbin for leading the committee in rejecting House efforts to criminalize hard working immigrants and all who offer assistance to them. We are also pleased that the Committee recognized the long fought inclusion of the DREAM act -- legislation that offers status relief and in-state tuition to undocumented immigrant students – as well as the Ag JOBS compromise, which provides a path to permanent residency for agricultural guest workers, in their final product.
As the debate on this crucial issue continues, we hope that the Senate will apply the same principles it applies to workers already in this county to those workers who will meet our nation’s future needs for immigrant labor. We remain deeply troubled by the expansion of guest worker programs -- for workers not already in this country -- contemplated by the bill voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Guest workers programs are a bad idea and harm all workers. They cast workers into a perennial second-class status, and unfairly put their fates into their employers’ hands, creating a situation ripe for exploitation. They encourage employers to turn good jobs into temporary jobs at reduced wages and diminished working condition and contribute to the growing class of workers laboring in poverty.
We have offered a real solution: workers should have full rights and a real voice in our democracy, which no guest worker program can ever guarantee. We see no valid reason why employers should be able to fill permanent jobs with temporary workers.
Contact Esmeralda Aguilar 202-637-5018
