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AFL-CIO: Federal Government Must Cut Ties with Arizona Law Enforcement
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The AFL-CIO and the nation’s largest civil rights coalition issued a strongly worded call for the Obama administration to sever its ties with law enforcement officials in Arizona or be complicit in the state’s racial-profiling anti-immigrant law, also known as S.B. 1070.
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCR), a coalition of more than 200 organizations, urged the administration to immediately stop cooperating with local law enforcement officials in Arizona.
Writing in Huffington Post today, Sam Stein says the AFL-CIO LCCR letter
is by far the most serious effort to date to make Arizona’s new immigration law untenable for the state. Other groups have urged economic and travel boycotts as a way to target the state government’s tourism revenues. Should [the Department of Homeland Security] adopt the AFL-CIO’s suggestion (and it’s a big question whether the Department will) it would deny the state the type of law enforcement expertise that the immigration law was designed to beef up in the first place.
Click here to read Stein’s entire post.
In the letter, Trumka and Henderson say:
We write to express our deep concern with the Department of Homeland Security’s continued cooperation with state and local law enforcement in Arizona pursuant to Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“the 287(g) program”) in the aftermath of Arizona’s passage of Senate Bill 1070, and we ask that you immediately rescind all 287(g) program agreements in Arizona.
Read the AFL-CIO LCCR letter here.
Under Section 287(g) agreements, Homeland Security trains members of eight state and local law enforcement agencies in Arizona, including the state police, which allows the officers to enforce immigration laws.
Trumka and Henderson add:
We are grateful that President Obama has spoken out to correctly call the Arizona law “misguided.” However, more than words are required from the federal government at this time. Unless DHS terminates all 287(g) program agreements in Arizona, the federal government will be complicit in the racial profiling that lies at the heart of the Arizona law. Such a result would place the DHS at odds with this Administration’s stated views on SB I070, and at odds with basic American values of tolerance and non-discrimination.
To read more about the growing momentum to repeal Arizona’s onerous law, click here, here and here.
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74 Comments
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I fail to understand how the President of the AFL-CIO can possibly side with ILLEGALS entering our country and taking OUR JOBS.
I have been out of work now for over FOUR MONTHS AND in my Local there are guys that have been out of work for OVER A YEAR!
Not only are we here LEGALLY, but many of us are VETERANS as well. I myself am a MARINE CORPS VETERAN, and I find it reprehensible that our UNION PRESIDENT SIDES WITH ILLEGALS INSTEAD OF IT’S CITIZENS, AND OUR union brothers. ILLEGAL IS JUST THAT-ILLEGAL. NO RIGHTS TO OUR JOBS, HEALTHCARE AND SCHOOLING! OUR UNION BROTHERS ARE SUFFERING, MANY OF US LAID OFF WHERE ARE OUR JOBS??? AND WHERE ARE OUR LEADERS WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO BE PROTECTING OUR JOBS???
This is a very disapointing position for leadership. Not only union, but also unprotected workers, across the nation are caught in a cross fire between illegal immigration and our “free for all” trade policies.
The fact is that these companies have their choice – exploit cheap immigrant labor here, or move to Mexico to exploit it there. Are we putting worker against worker? Our class is the working class – forget all of this ‘middle class’ BS. We need the Latino worker’s youth, militancy and fighting spirit to reinvigorate our otherwise dying movement. Who is going to fight the coming life and death Labor battles – old white racist farts?
he’s not siding with illegals, think about it. immigrants didn’t cause the crisis that is keeping you from having a job. wallstreet did that. immigrants didn’t sell sham mortgages. wallstreet did that, the very same corporations that are now making millions by having workers that can’t complain when they’re not paid. what is it that you would like to see trumka do? call for 10 million people to be put into detention camps? and don’t just say “deport” them unless you can explain what that means.
Thanks, you seem to be the only person on on this page who hasn’t been brainwashed by Lou Dobbs or Glenn Beck or some useless piece of racist crap.
Anyone with any sense knows by now that the INS is corporate bought and does anything it can to discourage a “legal” path to citizenship. When a woman born from britain that has been here since she was five is still waiting after 25 years for legal citizenship something is f’d up to put it mildly.
You have to look pass the distractions: They will try anything to put you against someone other than the real enemies, like making up crap that 1/3 of the U.S. prison pop. is hispanic. My father worked at a state pen. and knows that is B.S. or that we will all have to learn spanish because “those people” are to lazy to learn english. FYI 90% of the children of Mexican immigrants already are as fluent in proper english if not more than the average american. And since NAFTA mexico has lossed as many skilled higher paying jobs as the U.S.
Another good response!
When was the last time we saw an article telling us who is coming from Mexico and why?
Don’t people realize it’s all corporate greed and Americans obsession with LARGE quantities of everything at rock-bottom prices?
We undercut the Mexican corn crop so that Mexico could not compete and this sent many of its agricultural workers north looking for farm work. In exchange Americans are getting their CHEAP soda laced with high fructose corn syrup that will ultimately give them cardiovascular disease if they drink enough of it.
“According to OXFAM UK, after NAFTA went into effect, the price of maize in Mexico fell 70% between 1994 and 2001. The number of farm jobs dropped as well: from 8.1 million in 1993 to 6.8 million in 2002. Many of those who found themselves without work were small-scale maize growers.”).[28] However, introduction in the northern latitudes of the U.S. of tropical maize for biofuels, and not for human or animal consumption, may potentially alleviate this.
As a result of the U.S. federal government announcing its production target of 35 billion gallons of biofuels by 2017, ethanol production will grow to 7 billion gallons by 2010, up from 4.5 billion in 2006, boosting ethanol’s share of maize demand in the U.S. from 22.6 percent to 36.1 percent.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maize
Don’t bore us with facts – we are mad and want a scapegoat to hate.
“When a woman born from britain that has been here since she was five is still waiting after 25 years for legal citizenship something is f’d up to put it mildly.”
If she’s been here since she was five and is still waiting then my guess is she’s doing something wrong. My granddaughter’s husband came here from El Salvador when he was twelve and he became a naturalized citizen before the the age of twenty!
Why haven’t you sent him home?
Like I said, he came here LEGALLY. He is an American.
He sure better carry his ID. Does he have a job? Give it to me and send him home, right? – Or are we still pretending the this racist anti-immigrant reaction really cares about the overlapping distinctions between documented, in process, and undocumented immigrants?
EXCELLENT POINTS!
When are workers going to wake up and realize what is going on?
While THEY divide us with issues like immigration and health care reform, they are giving cover to the corporate state to continue
sending us toward a third world labor force, while the paper wealth holders increase their control.
This is not the first time this has happened in history and it won’t be the last.
I refuse to buy into the whole ‘politically correct’ crap. Illegals are NOT immigrants. They are invaders. Immigrants come here legally. Illegals DON’T! Any person who wants to be welcomed here and considered an immigrant needs to leave and come back legally.
People from wealthy countries come here legally. People from poor countries are forced to come here any other way that they can. The exception is Cuba – for cold war reasons, any number of Cubans can come here any way that they want to, and the red carpet is rolled out for them.
Like I said before, my granddaughter’s husband came here LEGALLY from El Salvador. In case you haven’t noticed that’s anything BUT a wealthy country.
When did ‘correct’ become an epithet?
It would be so much easier if Hitler were right in contending that certain races or nationalities were inferior and others superior – then we could just kill all the Mexicans, immediately creating jobs for those willing to collect the bodies. Have you ever applied for a job and been told “No – we only hire Mexicans.” ? I doubt it. The fact is that many employers want to pay as little as possible, and our Labor movement is too weak and divided by race hatred to do anything about it. Americans are simply not willing to work for the paltry wages that immigrants feel they have no choice but to accept.
I respectfully disagree with MY unions position on this issue. MY union should be standing up for us members by agreeing with Arizona. Arrest employers of illegals, and remove illegals swiftly, opening jobs for our brothers. NO AMNESTY, NO MORE STOLEN JOBS, NO MORE WORKING UNDER THE TABLE FOR LESS THAN A UNION WAGE.
AMEN!
Agree with Arizona? Great! Let’s elect John McCain, and abolish MLK Day while we are at it.
I support President Trumka efforts to stop the racial profiling in AZ. I am a Latin woman working in AZ, my coworkers and friends US citizens also Latinos and Union members. We participate actively in pickets and rallies.We deserve respect and dignity to our being. People are not going to carry birth certificates or passports just because they look working class Latinos. Many families have been here and the border moved up, but our physical appearence will not change. This law is discriminatory.
This is not racial profiling. Polish, Russians, Somalians, etc. are here illegally also. Skin color does not indicate immigration status. And I never saw in the 14 pages of the legislation where Latinos have been singled out. Read the legislation.
It will be interesting to see how many white people are asked for their papers and then arrested for not having them on their person. I am guessing not many. An educated guess.
The border did NOT move up in your lifetime. If you were born here, you are an American, unless you prefer to be a Mexican citizen. The Mexican government though has a FAR different view of YOU than you may have of them. In Mexico, even if you become a citizen, being born in the USA will make it impossible for you to ever run for political office, you cannot work for the Mexican government on any level, and you will be a second class citizen for your entire life.
The racists in our midst do not believe you exist, or if you do, they feel you should shut up and cower in the back with your documents in hand. In their childish rants, they seem to think that the dismal state of affairs for workers exists because the AFL-CIO officialdom has taken a position on a racist state law that they disagree with.
What the Hell is wrong with the AFL-CIO?Do you not understand that the legal citizen of this great country is tired of supporting non citizens.The great majority of the Rank and File wholeheartedly support Arizona’s effort to do something to curb the abused brought on us by Illegal Immigration.I’m a building trades member of 43 years and have stood on several picket lines while these Imported Illegal Scabs cross them and try to do my job.Many legal UNION MEMBERS are losing everything partly because of them.Lost jobs lost or lower wages and you at The AFL-CIO know it’s true and do nothing but back SCABS and my God the Chamber of Commerce.When will the legal AMERICAN be anything to you or the government but the poor fool that pays for it all.My grandfather was at Ford Motor Company when they organized and I would bet he’s rolling in his grave.It’s a good thing the Rank and File doesn’t have a way to IMPEACH Richard Trumpka or that he dosen’t need our votes to be head of the AFL-CIO.If we had a vote all of the leadership of the AFL-CIO would be gone.Brothers write your state legislatures and let’s see how many states will follow Arizona’s lead.Let’s push for E-Verify for every employer and prosecution and heavy fines for illegal employers mandatory jail terms wouldn’t hurt either.I’m sick of being a second class citizen in my own country how about you?
In every American city, there is a divider – a railroad, an interstate – even walls – separating the inferior poor people from the superior wealthy people. The top priority of all of the rulers’ socialization and educational efforts from early childhood on is simply to teach us all to accept this absurdly inhumane system as natural and inevitable. Labor can not go along with this, because our cause is to empower workers to lift themselves up from misery by standing strongly together in spite of all the efforts of the superrich to get us to accept things as they are without rocking the boat.
Nations have huge walls between them called borders. If you cross the border into Mexico, you will see why they risk everything to come here. The poor suffer here and there because the superrich – who run everything – get richer that way, and because the poor- the vast majority – have no concept of their own potential power, are divided by sex and race and nationality, and are brutally suppressed when they do stand up.
As a member of IBEW 2286 how can I support a union that supports Illegal imigration. Why would any member not support the Arizona bill. This country welcomes all imigrants to come here legally, register and get in line to become a citizen. If you dont want to go through the process of becoming a citizen than get the hell out……..remember the Alamo and Tommy Bean
I GOT YOUR BACK BROTHER!! I am IBEW Local 827, and I am disgusted by the stance taken by the AFL-CIO!! THEY HAVE BETRAYED EVERY UNION BROTHER AND SISTER!!!!!!
Im a union man 2nd generation and was always proud.But there is something wrong with the AFL CIO the real crime here is that our government still has not steeped up to help this poor state of Arizona.Did you know they are rated at the 2nd highest kidnapping besides Cuba in the entire world right here in the good old USA.But obama will send 54billion to help those in grease.The AFL CIO is not stupid they are looking to lock in votes and also make money they don’t give a damn about you check out there views on global government oh that’s crazy you say well ask yourself and look it up united workers of the world unite whats that about? read it and cry! US workers unite and cast out AFLCIO
The problem with which we are faced, the one the NON-DISCRIMINATORY law in Arizona atempts to address, has come to it’s now alarming state by the fact that the federal government has for years REFUSED to efectively enforce the laws that were ALREADY on the books. I am appalled that the union leadership would advocate that the federal government should REFUSE to cooperate with AZ – in other words to CONTINUE TO FAIL IN THEIR DUTY TO ENFORCE OUR LAWS AND SECURE OUR BORDERS. By the way, I plan to boycott anyone who boycotts Arizona.
I’m with you in boycotting anyone who boycotts Arizona. And because I am in a right to work state, I am seriously considering dropping out of the Union. I joined to have a voice, some representation. But this goes against EVERYTHING I thought the Union stood for. I’m not sure I want to pay for political action AGAINST the membership!
Go ahead and drop out and join the Nazi party. The race war you seek will destroy the union movement and make this country impossible to live in. Then your immigration problem will disappear, as Americans seek asylum elsewhere.
AFL-CIO NEED NEW LEADERSHIP!!! We need Leadership who cares for UNITED STATES CITIZENS. THANK YOU ARIZONA FOR CARING. BUYCOTT ARIZONA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilKUxWbGQj4
This is ridiculous.Perhaps the AFL-CIO should be more concerned with loss of jobs here in America and not siding with ILLEGALS.Perhaps Trumka should ask the NFL,MLB,and NBA why their gear is made in Mexico and elsewhere.Perhaps they should ask these same Pro organizations why they use Toyota as their official team cars and not AMERICAN DETROIT MADE cars.
Labor has become a bunch of woe is me,hand wringing,group of leaders who pander to illegals,politicians who quite frankly take our money then screw us over,and worry more if their suit is pressed and hair out of place so they look good for the cameras.
We need to get back to the 1930′s passion of the Labor movement and use 21st century technology to FIGHT our way forward.Labor leaders used to be flannel shirts,shot and a beer and steak and potatoes.It has become suit and tie,White wine spritzer,and a salad.In short..Labor leaders have gone soft.
The law will simply be thrown out by the judicial system as being blatantly unconstitutional, because it is. The issue is not a doomed neofacsist law, it is uniting a divided working class in preparation for the life-and-death struggle our wealthy rulers are forcing on us.
You speak of the thirties – the oldest trick in the book is divide and conquer. In the thirties, ‘immigrant’ Black workers from the South were brought in to break strikes under false pretenses, and the challenge for the unions was to reach out to these workers and bring them into the struggle. Everyone into the struggle – unemployed workers, youth, women, oppressed nationalities, and yes, immigrants.
Union members : http://www.standwith arizona,another example of “leadership not paying attention to their people,GO ARIZONA
THE AFL-CIO SHOULD BE ASHAMED FOR SUPPORTING ILLEGAL ALIENS OVER HONEST HARD WORKING LEGAL U.S. CITIZENS!!!!
AS A UNION MEMBER, I AM DISGUSTED BY THIS!!!!! ILLEGAL ALIENS HAVE COST THIS COUNTRY COUNTLESS JOBS!!!
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE LEADERSHIP IN THE AFL-CIO????
I SAY WE BOYCOTT AFL-CIO!!!
DEMAND YOU UNION AND LOCALS SUPPORT ARIZONA, THE ENFORCEMENT OF IMMIGRATION LAWS, STRENGTHEN OUR BORDERS< AND REJECT AMNESTY FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS!!!
DEMAND YOU UNION AND LOCAL REJECT THE AFL-CIO AND THE STANCE THEY HAVE TAKEN TO SUPPORT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS OVER LEGAL U.S. CITIZENS!!!!
EVERY LEGAL AMERICAN CITIZEN SHOULD BE OUTRAGED AND DISGUSTED B THE ACTIONS OF THE AFL-CIO!!! I AM!!!
I HAVE CONTACTED MY UNION! HAVE YOU?
It is really sad to hear so much bigotry and ignorance from union people. We’re supposed to be about working together to make life better for all workers.
As for all of you who want to “BUYCOTT” Arizona, whatever that means, answer this question, What does an “illegal alien” look like?
or better still, what would give YOU reasonable suspicion that someone is here illegally?
Please read SB1070. You obviously have not. Your comments have nothing to do with the bill, as the things you are worried about are still illegal, and in fact expressly prohibited by 1070. And please dont say it will allow for cops to abuse their power. If they want to abuse power, they don’t need a bill to do so.
You are right – cops already abuse their power. This bill just encourages to do it more.
Calling People Bigots is a cheap cop-out. Throw out some Facts. That illegal immigrants Lowered Wages at the Meat Packing Plants. Why is it that as a UNITED STATES CITIZEN and PROUD OF MY COUNTRY! People call you names? I am FOR LEGAL IMMIGRANTION and AGAINST illegal immigrantion. AFL-CIO needs to LISTEN to the MEMBERS, 70% of the PUBLIC IS AGAINST illegal immigrants. SECURE THE BORDER!! BUYCOTT ARIZONA..THANK YOU ARIZONA!!
I would define bigotted as close minded and full of hate. Perhaps you are open-minded and full of love, so maybe you are not bigotted. But then again , these days it is in vogue for racist groups also to claim they are not racist – like the KKK – they are not racists, they are just sticking up for Sara (“drill, baby, drill”) Palin’s ‘real’ Americans. At least, I think, the NAZIs still proudly confess to being racist.
The stance this union is taking is OUTRAGEOUS!…. They would rather support the rights of NON-CITIZENS?? This is about pure greed on the unions part. They only want these ILLEGAL immigrants legalized so they can collect more union dues… and increase their SOCIALIST power. Never mind the HARD-WORKING AMERICANS who are out of work. This has nothing to do with racism. You really want to see a change in their opinion? Lets see how the ILLEGAL MEXICANS react if we bring several boat loads of ILLEGAL CHINESE over to take THEIR jobs!! They would work for pennies compared to them.
In addition to BETRAYING EVERY UNION BROTHER AND SISTER IN AMERICA, THE AFL-CIO HAS BETRAYED EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN!!!
You sicken me AFL-CIO!!! HOW CAN YOU CHOSE ILLEGAL ALIENS/CRIMINALS OVER HONEST HARD WORKING LEGAL UNITED STATES CITIZENS????
YOU DO NOT REPRESENT ME!!!!! YOU STANCE GIVE ORGANIZED LABOR A SERIOUSLY POOR IMAGE!
For the first time in 21 years as a member of the AFL-CIO, I am disgusted and ashamed to belong to a union. Trumka and Henderson have proved two things by signing the letter to Napalitono.
One- Neither of them have actually read SB1070. The letter they signed just spreads more misinformation. 1070 mirrors a federal law that has been around since 1940, and it in no way allows for police officers to stop someone based only on a questionable immigration status, let alone the color of their skin.
Two- Trumka and Henderson have proved that they don’t really care about the working men and women of America, or the rule of law. They are more concerned with pleasing racist open-borders groups who pull their strings by claiming to have large voting blocks of Latinos.
I am disgusted by their actions. I know that the vast majority of my union brothers and sisters are in agreement with me. For the first time in my life, I am seriously considering dropping out of the union, as I cannot be a member of an organization that picks politics over America.
I for one am extremely proud that the AFL-CIO has taken this stand against scapegoating and racism. I am equally saddened to read so many confused posts by my union brothers and sisters.
True, America has an immigration problem. The misguided free-trade policies ushered in by NAFTA and other such trade agreements have destroyed jobs both in the United States and abroad, creating a global race to the bottom. Much like NAFTA killed Detroit and the good manufacturing jobs our nation used to pride itself on, the free-trade neoliberal model has also impoverished millions of Mexican workers and others throughout the world, forcing them to seek out any avenue necessary to provide for themselves and their families. Tragically, this has meant that many have had to leave their home countries, families, and ways of life and move to richer countries like the United States, in the hopes of securing any work possible.
Working Americans have a choice. Do we fall for corporate America’s bait and blame immigrants for the dismal economy and job prospects we face, or do we put the blame squarely where it belongs, on Wall Street and corporate greed? Do we ignore the reality that there are 12 million immigrant workers already within the United States that will continue to be exploited by shameless employers and drive down standards for all workers if immigration reform does not include a clear and fair path to legalization? Do we allow ourselves to be manipulated and made fools of by the very same forces that have year after year proven that they will never represent our interests? Do we sink to the basest human instincts of fear and hate in the face of adversity?
I don’t think so. The American labor movement that I know understands that the boss will go to great lengths to divide us, but that we are always stronger together. The same is true of Wall Street and corporate America, and it is time we call their bluff. The truth of the matter is we have a lot more in common with our immigrant co-workers than with the folks living it up on Wall Street. It is time we commit to joining forces with immigrants throughout the country in order to take call for a new trade model and good jobs for all working people.
Your missing the point. Illegal is the key word. They have no rights here, because they are not citizens. If your here legally you have nothing to worry about. Do you know what Mexico requires you to have if you visit from a foreign nation? WRITTEN PROOF THAT YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE IN THE COUNTRY.
Here’s an example I like:
“When a person goes into a bank with a check and receives cash for it, that person follows the legal and proper procedure for obtaining money; however, when a person robs a bank with a gun, that person, too, has received cash, but by way of committing an illegal act. Both individuals leave the bank with money, however, one is a law abiding citizen while the other is a criminal.”
Like others have said, no where in the bill does it state Latino or Hispanic.
If your a citizen you have nothing to worry about. If Canadians were coming into America illegally by the millions and North Dakota passed this bill, do you think this would be the same response. As a white male I wouldn’t care in the least if I was asked every now and then to show proof that I am hear legally if it helps secure our borders. Is that racist? No its rational.
I support citizenship cards personally, but thats probably racist too.
There is a difference between civil crimes and criminal. so your comparison is really off course.
Coming into this country without documentation is a civil offense not criminal.
And this law is not about immigration, it is about violation of civil rights directed at one group of people.
All ready American citizens have been arrested and not released until spouse shows up with certified birth certificate. One even had his CDL on him, as well as Social Security card yet the police decided that was not enough proof.
This is America people. You want Communism, then paint your white faces brown and drive through Az.
Because that is just what this law is about.
My husband has been member of steel workers for over 30 yrs. We have seen our area plants shut down and moved overseas. thats where your jobs are. nothing to do with immigration.
And want to know the real reason for all those stirring the “stop immigration” pot?
Just take a look at all the money private corporations are getting for all this.
how much of your tax dollars do you think is spent on stemming the “brown” flow? We live in Texas and are about to get federal funded unmanned drones, the millions spent on a large section of our wall was a waste–it fell and had to be redone, all the surveillance cameras plus the people to watch the screens 24/7, in fact here is part of article:
“the unmanned aircraft in Texas would add to the federal government’s existing border effort, which includes a handful of other unmanned aircraft, 20,000 Border Patrol agents, about 650 miles of border fence and 41 mobile surveillance systems, according to Customs and Border Protection.”
So basically what a lot of people are saying is its better to spend over a billion dollars a year just in one state, then allow anyone to cross over.
And other then agents all the work is contracted out.
Now add all the money the federal government spends on hundreds of private for profit detention centers. They are allowed to hold deportees up to 120 days, and they do just that. Getting paid high dollar for their human commodities.
That is not even good business sense, even if you care nothing of our constitution, the foundations of this country, or if people next door to you starve to death, you should at least acknowledge the insanity of what this country is doing.
One last point is the majority who are coming in now are central Americans not Mexicans. We live in a town with a detention center, its called an OTM (other then Mexican). Holds people from Africa, Central America, Eastern Europe, Asia, Palestine. We have another much larger one just a little south of us.
So in order for Az to not be racial profiling they did to be stopping every color and forcing DL, SS card, and certified Birth Certificate.
But for some reason it is only brown skinned people, and that includes our Native Americans also. Since all brown people look a like.
Excellent contribution – I just hope people read it. No one is any better than anyone else because of where they were born. Duh.
The problem is that turning our dismal situation around requires marching, picketing and striking, and eventually pitched battles with cops and Blackwater. It is much easier to sit home, watch FOX, drink beer, yell at wife and kids, and hate Mexicans.
I agree with the last commenter- this is a brave, smart, and principled position for the AFL to take, and I’m glad to see it. I think that sign in the picture says it all, but to those who say that immigrants here illegally should just “get legal” that’s exactly what comprehensive immigration reform is about. Right now, there’s no way for a lot of these workers, hired by US companies, to get into the legal system. It’s a mess.
We need a real reform of our nation’s legal immigration system, so we don’t keep winding up with illegal hiring and workers without rights. It’s fine for Arizona to want to fix the problem of illegal immigration, but laws like SB 1070 don’t do it right. They are nothing but cheap scapegoating at a time when our nation needs much, much better.
Thanks for the great post.
As a member of the Texas State Employee’s Union, I am also extremely proud of the AFL-CIO for taking a stand against this racist law in AZ. When we stand up for the rights of ALL workers, everyone wins.
Keep up the good fight AFL-CIO! Your Union brothers/sisters support you 100%!
The Federal government must decisively act and fix the country’s immigration system. That means fixing everything. Targeting a small section of the problem like Arizona is not enough.
I haven’t read ALL of the blogs above word for word because they repeat the myths one reads over and over. Immigrants take our jobs, etc. Every credible study** done, and they are numerous, refutes that and similar myths. So where did it come from? From FAIR, an ironic name since it is the richest anti-immigrant lobbying group in the country and its mouthpiece, the Center for Immigration (CIS) Studies is responsible for the dissemination of this and other myths which are causing such dissension here and taking us so far from our natinal values and the tenets upon which this country was grown. CIS diseminates its distortions, lies, misinformation via about a dozen satellite groups belonging to FAIR including NUMBERS USA and Ms. Pulido’s group, NOT IN MY NAME.
** The conclusion of each and every such study — and there are even state by state studies one can read — is that IMMIGRANTS ARE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF OUR COUNTRY AND TO ITS FUTURE PROSPERITY.
So it’s not surprising that an organization which has, pretty much since it’s inception, been a force for respect for human and civil rights and the rights of workers has joined the outcry against Arizona’s mean-spirited, UnConstitutional and illegal SB1070 — unConstitutional because it assumes responsibility for that which the Constitution names the federal government and illegal because racial profiling is illegal — simple as that.
So, for the open-minded out there, let me ask this question: if your family faced a future of grinding poverty, no access to higher education and you saw a way to save your children from that, what would you do if there were only 5,000 visas awarded to people from your company, but far, far, far more entry level work that other immigrants did when they arrived and now have moved up into better positions on the ladder, vacating those position for incoming immigrants. I would assume that you’d do what many of our undocumented immigrants do — make the dangerous, even treacherous- journey here without documents for the sake of your children.
And for lack of a document whose availability is hugely disproportionate to this country’s need for entry level workers, should you be separated from your wife or husband and children for the rest of your life? In what way can such a penalty fit that civil misdemeanor?
I recall, too, when my husband and I were married, hearing the final words of the minister who married us: “What God has joined, let no man rend asunder.” God’s law of JUSTICE tempered by MERCY stands in most of our minds as superior to Man’s laws. Note the image of scales of justice.
Thanks to the AFL-Cio for upholding once again American values for the good of all the present Americans and those who wish to become U.S. citizens.
It is the illegals who should show solidarity by NOT illegally entering the US. Since when does the labor movement show solidarity to those who break and enter into homes and countries? The fact that the AFL-CIO is on the SAME side as the Chamber of Commerce and NAM should tell it that they are on the wrong side in this fight. The bosses are the ones who are promoting the illegals to drive down our wages. Do you think that we should preach to the SCABS who are doing the bosses work? It is true that we have more in comman with scabs who are taking our jobs, but that hardly makes them our brothers. They only become that when they show US some solidarity, not the other way around. The illegals are the tools of the bosses and as long as they do their bidding, they must be unwelcome.
I am ashamed of the union sisters and brothers displaying so much out and out racism in the comments. I am proud to believe that An Injury to One is an Injury to All. Down with racism, down with nativism, down with profiling, down with police state tactics that our parents and grandparents fought against in Europe and the Pacific. I am a proud union member who believes in the international solidarity of the working class! I completely disagree with the claim that immigrant workers are taking our jobs. It is Wall Street in its insatiable thirst for profits that is doing this! Every time I hear the phrase “illegal alien” it makes me want to throw up! Don’t you realize that every single gain of the working class came by means of “illegal” action by a united and organized and militant working class? What were we doing in vietnam, workers killing workers? What are we doing in Iraq and Afghanistan wasting trillions of dollars of taxpayers money that should have and ought to have been spent on jobs programs, infrastructure, good green jobs, education for our youth and young adults. We need peace and dare I say it, Love! All the hate is completely misdirected against sister and Brother immigrant workers. Papers for All! Amnesty for All! Down with racist SB1070! Down with fascist pig Joe Arpaio! If you want a job, overthrow capitalism, the system that brings us nothing but oppression of workers everywhere, short term profits for a few over millions of people’s fundamental needs, worldwide poverty of millions and millions of working people, endless war and the spilling of our lives and theirs, for nothing, and the bleakest future for our children in history. Get out and march for peace, for solidarity of the international working class, for environmental justice, for jobs, jobs, jobs not Wall Street bailouts! Wake Up! You think you are “Legal”? Find out the next time you go on strike!
How can any American born and educated in this country , not support our Constitution! This SB 1070 does not attack immigrants it attacks ILLEGAL ALIENS. That is APPLES and ORANGES. Any labor leaders that wants to give up your job to a “freshly legalized” criminal trespasser is not on your side,trust me. Our President and Our Congress are charged to uphold and enforce the laws of the land and foremost our Constitution. They are ignoring their oaths and the will of the American people. When our government controls our lives it is time for radical changes.
Do these people live on $30,000/year? Does the cost of Gasoline or fuel oil worry them? Are sweating the sky rocketing price of staple and perishable groceries? No, because thet make $174,000/year and more. Are you getting your dollar’s worth out of this self serving Congress or President Obama? No,we are not.
Quit stalling and Do your DUTY. Secure our borders and deport these Illegal Aliens as fast as possible. Be a “statesman ” and stand up for your country and your constituents. Oh, I forgot that big power lobby and corporate money promises are pulling your string ,not me!
life is not apples and oranges – it is a fruit salad. Relax with a taco and Corona, learn a few words like gracias, and como esta?, and make friends with the immigrant worker that your neighbor just hired to fix his fence for next to nothing. You might like it.
Thank you AFL-CIO for taking a humane and logical stance on this very important issue. SB1070 is a horrible law that stands only to allow law enforcement to racially profile individuals.
I’m really sick of hearing an injury to one is an injury to all.The injury in this case is to our union brothers and sisters and the legal AMERICAN CITIZEN,not one of which has caused any harm to the illegals.
They know full well when they leave their home countries that they are in violation of our laws.You can not be a hard working honest immigrant if you came illegally.If they bring their families shame on them they have put them at risk not I.They count on you foolish bleeding hearts to give them for nothing that which they have not earned.They will let you pay for their healthcare,housing,schooling and steal your identity all at the same time.They will and have crossed your picket lines and done your job all the while thumbing their nose at you and carrying the MEXICAN FLAG.They are again SCABS nothing more nothing less,Rules and Laws somehow do not apply to them.
For as long as my 60 years will let me remember I have been ask to for various reasons to produce a valid birth certificate,proof of residency a valid social security card, a high school diploma or GED,and in many cases undergo a background check and drug test.Why should it be different for illegals?
The AFL-CIO is really on the wrong side of this issue and they really should read what this law says and so should many of you.
BOYCOTT the hell out of Arizona maybe we can shutdown all the Hotels and Restaurants where many of these Illegals work.Perhaps they will go home on their own and won’t have to worry about ICE sending them home.
It is Corporations who are making billions off all of this. Everything but border and custom agents is contracted out to big corporations.
And they won’t be deported until the time limit runs out at the private for profit detention centers. They are gonna bilk our tax dollars as long as they can,
And people like you are going to ensure they eat up as much of our tax dollars as possible.
See my reply to thebuicon on 17.05.2010 at 11:33 to get an idea of how you are allowing Lockheed, CCA, Private Security team, and makers of the drones rich, yet not accomplishing anything.
And I am shocked to read so many Union members who do not believe in our Constitution. What countries single out certain portions of populations with a law like Az?
Not the nation we are suppose to be. People like you make me ashamed to call myself an American.
If it wasn’t so sad, I would have to laugh at the contradiction.
Same people who talk about socialism and communism are very ones promoting a fascist law which is worse then other two combined. But fascism has always been racist so guess its ok. Fascist laws + Nationalist attitudes= 1930′s Germany.
The Arizona LAW does not single out any one group. The law is for all illegal persons in this country.
“AFL-CIO: Federal Government Must Cut Ties with Arizona Law Enforcement”
I agree. The federal government should ‘cut ties’ with AZ. Leave AZ law enforcement alone and let them do their job!
This law is NOT racist. No one is going to be asked for ‘papers’ unless they’re caught breaking a law. People are NOT going to be arbitrarily stopped on the street and required to show their ‘papers’. The only people who have any reason to fear this law are the illegals. And they SHOULD be afraid. After all, they’re ‘repeat offenders’. They break the same law over and over and over again. What law is that, you ask? And to that my answer is, ‘what part of illegal don’t you understand?’
I support the letter. I live in Boston, where for many years the largest group of undocumented folks were Irish. Somehow this was never a problem. Let a Brazilian step out of line and everyone’s howling. You can’t tell me there won’t be profiling involved; there will. It happens every day here. “Caught breaking a law” can mean failing to signal a lane change, and we’ve got strong indications in my town that at least some of the police are much more alert for such small irregularities on the part of brown folks than they are with white drivers.
The migrants aren’t at fault here. Many of them are farmers, teachers, small business people — very much like union members — who got shoved off their land and out of their jobs and businesses by “free trade” agreements. Who benefits from those? Not you and me, and not the foreign workers.
Look who’s cleaning up, and go after them. You can deport Halliburton any old day. Leave my immigrant neighbors alone. My neighborhood is *less* safe when the cops are hassling folks and everyone who’s nonwhite or speaks with an accent is hiding indoors.
The “law” is blatantly unconstitutional. I trust it will be thrown out quickly. Meantime by all means let’s boycott AZ. What a disgrace!
Union Brothers and Sisters, please stop this divisive talk. Everyone must remember one thing, whether you live in the U.S.A., Mexico, England, China, India, or any other country or continent, we all share one thing in common. We all are just trying to make the best of our working lives and help out all of our families and loved ones. I believe everyone is missing a major point that is occuring in the United States and throughout the world: GLOBALIZATION! Believe me, every government of every country in the world could rectify quite a few problems by recognizing that UNIONS should have more say in the workplace. Union Brothers and Sisters, there are rich and powerful corporations in every country of the world that play the game to do one thing. You have heard it before, DIVIDE AND CONQUER! I have read the comments from all sides of the issue on the blog. There are many good points from all sides. However, we must recognize one point. Why are there working folks, legal and illegal, from all over the world coming to the U.S.? It is because they have a better chance to help out their families. You would do the same if you were in their shoes. How can we fix this? We need to stick together and make the Union Movement stronger in the U.S.A. and every other country in the world. Fellow working people are not the cause of misery in the world. GREED IS! Let’s all work together to help each other out, no matter what country you are from, or what color, race, or creed you are. In UNION SOLIDARITY, Mike S. of TX.
Both undocumented and documented immigrants have always been the backbone and vanguard of the fight for all working families. There was a time when the Federal government made immigration illegal for the labor organizers who came to the US in the early 1900s. They were “illegal” and they were the ones who spurred the organizing that led up to NLRA.
We are already standing on the shoulders of giants. Let’s recognize the strength of our contemporary sisters and brothers no matter where or how they come to fight with us.
When will the madness Stop! We need to Protect these illegal immigrants! SO let make ICE do their JOB and DEPORT all these poor illegal immigrants back to whatever country they came FROM. CONFISCATE ALL their WORLDLY POSSESSIONS and Sale their Possessions at Public Auction and use the Money to Help Deport more of these poor illegal immigrants Back to their Homeland Broke. That way it will discourage their Homeland People not to come to United States without PROPER PAPERS.
DEPORT ALL illegal immigrants, look at all the JOBS it would Open-Up for
I bet you can’t wait to start harvesting lettuce.
This madness will stop when we reorganize society so that wealth is produced to satisfy basic human needs rather than engrandize an infinitessimal minority of superrich. It will end when everyone knows we are all equally valuable and legitimate human beings, and that racial and cultural hangups are downright silly. It will end when there are no more rich countries and poor countries, and everyone can make a decent living without having to abandon their native land. It will end when intermarriage makes us all brown. The race war you are an unknowing proponent of will not change any of that.
Perhaps those of you that seem to know what is in the Constitution should try reading it.
Amendment 14 – Citizenship Rights. Ratified 7/9/1868. Note History
1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
The preponderence of anti-union comments here does not reflect the overall view of our working class. The same hateful old cranks writing here have children and grandchildren going to work and school together with the same immigrants being targeted as the cause of all of our problems, and they are making friend with them and losing the hate and fear. Unfortunately, young people have no union jobs and no way to get them, so their energy and vision is lost to our aging, failing Labor ‘Movement’. When we can inspire the young people and organize them, these backward elements will recede to background noise.
How do you organize illegals into a union membership? The union can’t even organize Wal-Mart. I support The Arizona law and also a persons right to become a citizen legally. But I will not support the notion that its okay to enter this Country illegally and than be awarded for it……………….IBEW 2286
I maybe a hateful old crank,maybe you like paying for your child and their child to go to school,maybe you like paying for their health care,maybe you like them doing your job,maybe you like them stealing your social security number,maybe you like them having anchor babies so we can’t send them home,maybe you like them going to colleges at in state tution that I suspect we also pay for,maybe you like them marching in the streets clamoring for rights the are not entitled to,maybe you like them working as day laborers for cash and paying no taxes I could go on and on but suffice it to say I think you are a fool.Get a life and support your fellow American Citizen and LEGAL immigrant if you are one.