Exciting news today — Change to Win And AFL-CIO Unveil Unified Immigration Reform Framework:
Joseph T. Hansen, International President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) and chair of the Change to Win Immigration Task Force, and John Sweeney, International President of the AFL-CIO, today unveiled a unified framework for comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
The joint announcement and proposal is a critical sign of support for the Administration and Congress to address immigration reform - and to ensure that it remains a priority on the legislative calendar. It is also an important sign that immigration reform is an important part of economic recovery.
“We need an immigration system that works for America’s workers,” said President Hansen. “For too long, our nation’s immigration system has fueled discrimination and exploitation of workers. It has driven down wages and working conditions. And it has failed to live up to our nation’s values. We now have an opportunity to change course. This framework is a roadmap toward real reform—reform that addresses the needs of our nation’s workers, families and communities. This framework is about moving America forward. We are a nation that respects hard work, family and the pursuit of the American Dream. Our immigration system must hold true to these principles.”
The proposal calls for: (1) an independent commission to assess and manage future flows, based on labor market shortages that are determined on the basis of actual need; (2) a secure and effective worker authorization mechanism; (3) rational operational control of the border; (4) adjustment of status for the current undocumented population; and (5) improvement, not expansion, of temporary worker programs, limited to temporary or seasonal, not permanent, jobs.
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This proposal sounds like a good idea. There is no reason that immigrants should take priority of American jobs. Undocumented immigrants are more able to break laws, not pay income taxes, and get away with it because they can just flee back to Mexico or wherever and authorities won't find them easily because they have no documentation to confirm their identities. In order to actually make immigrant workers justified, they need to be documented. One question that comes to mind is: Why should a population that corrupts their own government to such terrible levels be allowed to influence our own government and job market which America has fought to establish and preserve?
Posted by yiu on April 21, 2009 at 4:22 PM
Posted on April 21, 2009 at 4:22 PM