Unions, immigrant rights groups renew push for reform
Fed up with congressional refusal to
tackle comprehensive immigration re-
form, the AFL-CIO launched a national
petition campaign to demand President
Barack Obama take executive action to
address growing concerns about the
country’s immigration system, and to
help a growing number of refugee chil-
dren from Central America who are
fleeing violence and terror.
The petition — available on the fed-
eration’s website at www.aflcio.org —
was sent to more than 50 member
unions and hundreds of allied organiza-
tions.
On July 23, the Oregon AFL-CIO
joined a coalition of organizations at a
press conference outside the United
States Citizenship and Immigration
Services field office in Northwest Port-
land to make their voices heard. The
coalition included representatives from
Causa Oregon, the American Friends
Service Committee, the American Civil
Liberties Union, the Center for Inter-
cultural Organizing, and the farmwork-
ers union PCUN.
“I want the president to hear this,”
said Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom
Chamberlain: “We supported him; we
saw the actions he took to help work-
ers; we see what he’s doing to raise
wages; but it’s not enough until we help
all working people in this country; it’s
not enough while 11 million people are
working in the shadows and children
Tom Chamberlain, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO, joins with immigrant
and community groups at a press conference outside the federal Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Northwest Portland, where
the organizations called on President Barack Obama to use his executive
powers to implement comprehensive immigration reform.
are overwhelming a system with no
means to support them. He must take
this on.”
Chamberlain said there are 160,000
undocumented immigrants currently
living in Oregon.
David Fidanque, executive director
of ACLU of Oregon, said that under
U.S. laws and international human
rights agreements, children fleeing vio-
lence and human trafficking in Central
America have a right to seek asylum in
the United States.
“Once those children reach the
U.S., they also have a right to have
their case heard in a fair process con-
sistent with our Constitution,” he said.
“No child should be deported without
a fair hearing before an immigration
judge — and that means the child
should have an attorney to represent
them in that hearing.”
Kayse Jama, executive director of
the Center for Intercultural Organizing
explained that refugees — especially
children — who are fleeing countries
where laws are not enforced and rights
are not upheld, don’t know to advocate
for themselves.
“We must have the resources in
place to help these kids — and we must
change our views, as a country, of the
immigrants and refugees who are com-
ing here because they seek the same op-
portunities that I did when I came here,
and that your families did when they
came to this country. We are a country
of immigrants. It’s time to remember
that, and to show compassion to our fu-
ture neighbors,” she said.
The AFL-CIO and the rest of organ-
ized labor have long campaigned for
comprehensive immigration reform that
would put undocumented people on a
path to legalization and eventually citi-
zenship. It also would bring the undoc-
umented under federal labor law pro-
tection as soon as they registered for
provisional “blue cards.” That would
lessen their exploitation, let unions or-
ganize them, and reduce the capability
of employers to threaten to fire workers
and hire undocumented replacements to
stop union organizing drives.
The U.S. Senate passed comprehen-
sive immigration reform last year, but
the GOP-run House refuses to even
consider it. That is why the national
‘I want the president to hear
this. We supported him; we
saw the actions he took to
help workers; we see what
he’s doing to raise wages;
but it’s not enough until we
help all working people in
this country; it’s not enough
while 11 million people are
working in the shadows and
children are overwhelming a
system with no means to
support them. He must take
this on.’
O REGON AFL-CIO P RESIDENT
T OM C HAMBERLAIN
AFL-CIO launched the petition cam-
paign.
Foes of immigration reform say the
undocumented take away U.S. jobs.
Trumka says that’s wrong.
“We stand up for immigrant rights
because there are jobs on the table —
like the 800,000 new jobs created by
immigration reform. We fight like hell
for every single one,” Trumka said.
“Immigration is about work, about
making a better life.”
Supporters of executive action note
that in 2012, Obama was able to stop
the deportation of hundreds of thou-
sands of undocumented young adults
under the program known as DACA
(Deferred Action for Childhood Ar-
rivals). The idea is that a program like
DACA — only bigger — would allow
the millions more of undocumented im-
migrants to work legally in the U.S.
without having to fear expulsion from
the country.
(Editor’s Note: Press Associates Inc.
contributed to this report.)
PAGE 2
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
AUGUST 1, 2014