Eliseo Medina
As the eyes of the world focus on Arizona, it is clear that we need balanced, practical immigration solutions more than ever. While SEIU appreciates the leadership of Senators Schumer, Menendez and Reid, we are deeply concerned with elements of their reform outline that appear to put enforcement-only mandates ahead of the practical immigration solutions that America needs.
If we have learned anything from Arizona, it is that “tough” enforcement is not “smart” enforcement; that enforcement first is really just the same as enforcement only. Instead of fixing the underlying problems, putting enforcement before comprehensive reform just wastes over $18 billion a year on border walls and worksite round ups; it wreaks havoc in local communities and leads to the kind of racial profiling our nation left behind years ago, but solves nothing.
SEIU is committed to working with Senators Schumer, Menendez and Reid to fix this framework and move a balanced, comprehensive bill that gets undocumented immigrants into the system and under the rule of law; passes smart enforcement on the border and in our workplaces; and creates a visa system that protects labor rights and meets the economic needs of our future.
In order to do that, Republicans must join with Democrats and show they have the will to fix our broken immigration system once and for all. It’s time to put smart policy ahead of partisan politics.
On behalf of the thousands of Americans who are marching in over 80 sites across the country this Saturday to call for real solutions, Congress must enact real and lasting solutions. On behalf of Arizonans who will soon be stopped on the street just because of the color of their skin, the clothes they wear and the language they speak, Congress must get this bill done and get this bill done right.
SEIU will not back down until Congress can deliver a balanced, workable immigration bill that will truly reform immigration for America. Diverse groups are aligned on the need for a comprehensive solution. A majority of Americans are in support. Now we need Congress to take bold steps, roll up their sleeves and pass smart reforms once and for all.
SEIU’s Comprehensive Immigration Reform Principles:
A comprehensive solution would couple enforcement at the border and in the workplace with a path to earned legalization for all hard working immigrants. It will also replace guest worker programs with a system that guarantees immigrant workers full labor and civil rights protections, and a path to U.S. citizenship. Done together, these reforms will finally restore the rule of law and eliminate an informal labor market that drives down wages and labor protections for all U.S. workers. Read more about the Change to Win and AFL-CIO’s Unified Immigration Reform Framework.
Eliseo Medina is an International Vice President of the Service Employees International Union and an Honorary Chair of Democratic Socialists of America. He has been scribed by the Los Angeles Times as “one of the most successful labor organizers in the country” and was named one of the “Top 50 Most Powerful Latino Leaders” in Poder Magazine. He is currently leading the Service Employees International Union’s (SEIU) efforts to achieve comprehensive immigration reform that rebuilds the nation’s economy, secures equal labor- and civil-rights protections for workers and provides legal channels and a path to citizenship
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Filed under: Immigrant Workers, Politics Tagged: | Add new tag, Eliseo Medina, immigration reform, SEIU
[...] to the sterile distractions of internecine warfare. Let’s have Eliseo Medina fully freed up to struggle for immigration law reform, Gerry Hudson embodying his vision of a broader movement for social justice, and all the other [...]
The “underlying problems” are that there are millions of illegal aliens in this country; individuals who entered the United States contrary to its laws and who exist in it as criminals, imposing their criminality on the rest of us who have to absorb the consequences. That’s not just the “underlying problem” in terms of so-called “immigration”, but the topmost “problem”, and every level of “problem” in between.
And I think it goes without saying that “the fix” to that “underlying problem” – and every aspect of it – is to attack it at it’s root; i.e. – GET RID OF THE ILLEGALS!
In truth, I’m not all that concerned about their “rights”….any more than they were concerned about ours when they crossed the border to impose themselves on us. The only “balanced immigration bill” I would be interested in is one that SOLVES THE PROBLEM! And the solution – the ONLY reasonable and legitimate solution! – is to deal with the illegals directly and as they SHOULD be dealt with; i.e. – as criminal invaders of this country.
Perhaps “legality” – and the aspect of criminality – are things that Eliseo Medina should come to understand about illegal entry into this country before he begins pontificating to those of us who DO respect the law and see the necessity of solving the problem rather than (as he apparently wants to do) exacerbate it.
Want to help resolve the problem, Eliseo, instead of being part of it? Then start demanding that the illegal aliens get the the Hell out the country. Simple as that.