Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO

Immigrant Rights

As all throughout American history, each new wave of non-Anglo immigrants have always experienced racism and discrimination. The hate in the recent federal Sensenbrenner bill has sparked mass demonstrations for Americans to live up to our own core ideals.

In this section:

• What Is The Immigration Issue?
• Online Materials on Immigrant Rights

WHAT IS THE IMMIGRATION ISSUE?

In recent years, we have seen a visible increase in new immigrants in the U.S. There have traditionally been immigrant neighborhoods in most large cities across America, including Irish, Germans, Italians, and also African Americans and Appalachians who have moved to new areas in the country. After World War II, suburbs began developing around the country, and many ethnic neighborhoods melted away. Until recently, immigration ceased to be a visible issue. In the 1990s, however, a new wave of immigrants became visible, as economic globalization, new social conflicts, and other forces after the end of the Cold War increased the rates of migration all over the world. Hispanics are the largest and most visible of these new immigrants in the U.S., but people have come from every region in the world seeking to support their families and to realize new opportunities.

Popular reactions to these new immigrants have also been emerging in recent years. Some responses have been positive, as new neighbors have been welcomed into jobs and communities. But there have also been negative reactions, particularly after the attacks of September 11 2001. After the Civil Rights Movement, it was no longer acceptable in America to express hate and racism... but now it seems OK to be hateful and racist against immigrants. Myths and misinformation are clouding understandings, the voices of prejudice and discrimination are becoming louder, and anti-immigrants are forming vigilante groups and pushing policies that are punitive and oppressive.

What is the Real Immigration Issue?

The American society is facing a major challenge: What kind of society we are making for ourselves? Are we to become a hateful and oppressive society? Or will we become the best that we can be as a people?

FLOC has stood for social and economic justice since its beginnings. Our members are largely immigrants making important contributions in producing foods for Americans. In recent worker conventions, they have raised the issue of the prejudice and discrimination directed against them, and have called on the union to defend immigrant rights.

In response, FLOC has developed our Immigrant Rights Campaign, with the primary goals of:

• Organizing the immigrant community to have their own voice in all areas of their lives
• Organizing support networks for immigrant rights
• Policy advocacy to achieve:
  • Legal residency for immigrants permanently working and living in the country
  • Reunification of families separated by international borders
  • Full human, civil, due process, and working rights for all immigrants
  • An ongoing process for addressing these issues with future migrant flows,
    including the free flow of workers between countries having trade agreements

In addressing the immigration issue, FLOC President Baldemar Velásquez states that the system is designed to benefit corporations and their investors at the expense of workers. He has proposed a Freedom Visa where workers have the same rights as corporations to cross the borders between countries that have trade agreements in the search for economic well-being. For more on the Freedom Visa, go to:
Freedom Visa

WHY IS THERE AN "IMMIGRANTION CRISIS"?

In the last few years, we have seen efforts to create an "immigration crisis" through raids on undocumented workers, the Real ID act, denial of driver licenses to undocumented immigrants, state laws to punish employers who hire undocumented workers, and other "enforcement only" actions.

As we have asked many times, who is behind the harsh treatment of immigrants? One hidden agenda is to force through a "guest worker" program that legally exploits immigrant labor and denies these workers their basic human rights, to the benefit of rich investors.

Instead of helping to fix America's broken immigration system, "enforcement-only" plans only result in the increased misery of millions of the hardest working people in this country, as well as lower labor standards for the American working class in general. They do very little to reduce the immigrant population living in the country without legal status, because the underlying causes of immigrantion are not addressed... especially those policies created by the U.S. power elite to benefit the rich, such as the North American Free Trade Act.

To understand the abuses in the "guest worker" program see Close to Slavery, a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

For more on the FLOC position on this issue, see:

• FLOC Denounces Crackdown on Immigrants
• Baldemar Velásquez Testifies on Guest Workers
• FLOC Protests Proposed H2A Rules
• Protest H2A Rules
• Freedom Visa, by Baldemar Velásquez.

BALDEMAR VELASQUEZ TESTIFIES ON GUEST WORKERS

On June 7, FLOC President Baldemar Velásquez testified before Congressional Committee in support of Congressman George Miller's (D-CA) "Indentured Servitude Abolition Act of 2007".

"Unscrupulous foreign labor contractors lure workers to the United States with promises of a better life and decent wages in exchange for thousands of dollars in fees," said Miller, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. "Instead of good jobs, workers wind up trapped in oppressive employment, often unable to repay their debts to recruiters or find other jobs. This is nothing short of a form of modern-day slavery, and it must end." Miller's office says the legislation:

• Requires employers and foreign labor contractors to inform workers of the terms and conditions of their employment at the time they are recruited;
• Makes employers jointly liable for violations committed by recruiters in their employ;
• Imposes heavy fines on employers and recruiters who fail to live up to their promises;
• Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to take additional legal action to enforce those commitments; and
• Requires the Secretary of Labor to maintain a public list of foreign labor contractors who have violated the law and to assess additional penalties if employers use a contractor on the list and that contractor contributes to a violation for which the employer may be liable.

"For Three years, FLOC has been raising the alarm about the corruption in the recruitment process," says Baldemar Velasquez. "This initiative by Congressman Miller is long over due, and we applaud his courage! America must demonstrate to Mexico the highest standards expected from civilized nations."

To see Velásquez's testimony, go to: