Civil Rights and Immigration

Immigration

The L.A. County Federation of Labor supports comprehensive immigration reform and a path toward citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants throughout the country. America is a land of immigrants, and immigrants today play an indispensable role throughout our society and economy. We oppose the attempts to scapegoat immigrant workers, and we oppose workplace raids. The labor movement and immigrant communities stand together in our demand for a fair and just immigration system.

The Labor Movement’s Framework for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Learn the Real Facts About Immigration

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka Delivers Powerful Speech Linking American Workers and Immigration Reform

Richard Trumka

An excerpt President Trumka’s speech:

And yet today I hear from working people who should know better, some in my own family – that those immigrants are taking our jobs, ruining our country. Haven't we been here before?

When I hear that kind of talk, I want to say, did an immigrant move your plant overseas? Did an immigrant take away your pension? Or cut your health care? Did an immigrant destroy American workers' right to organize? Or crash the financial system? Did immigrant workers write the trade laws that have done so much harm to Ohio?

My friends, we are most of us the children of immigrants.

But there was no labor movement in America until workers learned to look at each other and see not immigrants and native born, not white and black, not different last names, but our common fate as workers.

Model Resolution Condemning Arizona Senate Bill 1070

May 20, 2010

WHEREAS:
Arizona’s controversial new anti-immigration law (SB 1070) is not only an affront to American values of fairness and respect for our constitution, but also an impractical, unenforceable and wasteful approach to fixing our nation’s broken immigration system.

WHEREAS:
Arizona Senate Bill 1070 codifies racial profiling into law by requiring police officers to stop anyone they have “reasonable suspicion” to believe is not authorized to be in the United States, without providing guidelines that define what police can use in determining “reasonable suspicion.” In doing so the law puts Arizona’s entire Latino population—the great majority of whom are U.S. citizens or legal residents—at risk of arrest.

WHEREAS:
Singling people out based only on stereotyping isn’t just wrong, it’s also impractical and wasteful policing. Under this law local police officers must now perform the job of federal immigration officials under the ever-present threat of being sued because the law subjects local governments and their employees to potential lawsuits by any citizen who believes the new law is not being enforced strongly enough. This will cost the state of Arizona million of dollars at a time when we just cannot afford to be wasting precious resources or expanding the mandate of already overburdened local police forces.

WHEREAS:
As a labor movement, we are particularly concerned about the effects this law will have on workers’ rights. Any employer faced with Latino workers’ complaints—from a picket line to a lawsuit—can now simply call the police and have the workers arrested under the guise of “reasonable suspicion.” The law’s effects on new organizing and labor standards will be devastating.

WHEREAS:
The people of Arizona and across the country are rightfully frustrated by the lack of federal action on the issue of immigration reform. For years, politicians in Washington have used immigration to play politics rather than to fix what they know is a broken system, and Arizona SB 1070 is merely a local continuation of this trend.

WHEREAS:
The solution for Arizona and the entire country is to solve the immigration problem through a comprehensive solution on the federal level that reflects our nation’s values and works for everyone, not through a state-by-state piecemeal approach.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:
That the [Central Labor Council, State Federation], AFL-CIO condemns SB 1070 as a racist, impractical, unenforceable, and wasteful law which will not fix Arizona’s immigration problem.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That the [Central Labor Council, State Federation], AFL-CIO calls on the Secretary of Homeland Security and the US Attorney General to take all necessary steps to prevent racial profiling, including blocking the implementation of SB1070.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That the [Central Labor Council, State Federation], AFL-CIO calls on President Obama and Congress to work together to pass a fair, comprehensive immigration reform bill that will fix our immigration system once and for all in a way consistent with our nation’s most precious values.

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:
That the [Central Labor Council, State Federation], AFL-CIO will continue to work with allies to promote comprehensive immigration reform based on the principles outlined in the labor movement’s unity framework, which contains five major interconnected pieces:

An independent commission to assess and manage future flows, based on labor market shortages that are determined on the basis of actual need;
A secure and effective worker authorization mechanism;
Rational operation control of the border and appropriate visa enforcement;
Fair adjustment of status for the current undocumented population; and
Improvement, not expansion, of temporary worker programs like the H1-B and H2-B programs, limited to temporary or seasonal, not permanent, jobs.

LA Unions Turnout Thousands for Immigration Reform on May 1

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on Arizona Anti-immigrant Law

Arizona’s new anti-immigrant law (SB 1070) is an affront to American values of fairness and respect for our constitution. The AFL-CIO joins people of conscience around the country in condemning the law, which will make racial profiling the norm-if not a requirement-in Arizona and will be impractical, unenforceable and a waste of scarce public resources.

We Are United for Immigration Reform in 2010! March on May 1!

Download union flyer here.

Saturday, May 1, 8:30 AM, 9th & Broadway

Our demands are:

Comprehensive immigration reform in 2010
Stop family separations and deportations
Good jobs and workers' rights

United for Immigration Reform in 2010

Los Angeles most prominent immigration advocacy, human rights, labor, and religious organizations gathered at the Los Angeles Federation of Labor building Wednesday morning to announce they are combining their efforts to organize one united and massive march and rally for comprehensive immigration reform called United for Immigration Reform in 2010. They are calling on all Angelenos to demand comprehensive immigration reform for workers, families and youth by marching in Downtown Los Angeles on May 1.