Bush Administration Immigration Program Would Legalize Racial Discrimination

[Omaha Steve]

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August 10, 2007 03:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Statement from the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union: Bush Administration Immigration Program Would Legalize Racial Discrimination

Planned Enforcement Actions Threaten to Disrupt Innocent Workers and Communities

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The following is a statement from the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union:

On a hot, quiet August morning in Washington, DC - when the President
is on vacation and Congress at recess - the Bush Administration
announced an immigration reform package that essentially mandates
federal racial discrimination.

The Administration's guidelines would throw the doors open to racial
discrimination to whole classes of people by placing an undue burden
on workers who sound foreign, look foreign and particularly, on the
tens of millions of Hispanic and Asian-Americans who would face
greater scrutiny in the workplace. It is irresponsible to toss out
civil rights for the sake of political gamesmanship.

Considering the circumstances, today's announcement smacks of nothing
more than a publicity stunt aimed at terrifying immigrant workers.
Further, this program lacks the support and mandate of the American
people who have been demanding humane, comprehensive immigration
reform that addresses the root causes of illegal immigration. This
program offers no solutions, only punishments to workers.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has proven by its past
behavior that it is not beyond their scope to traumatize innocent
workers, including U.S. citizens, under the guise of immigration
enforcement. During its raids at Swift meatpacking plants last
December, all workers, including citizens, legal residents, were held
by ICE agents and subjected to unlawful search and seizure. Law
enforcement must uphold and defend the Constitution, not violate it.

Congress and the President promised the American people it would work
toward solutions to these problems but both parties have failed. It is
time for our elected leaders to get back to work - not with
unauthorized, sweeping gestures like this Bush enforcement program.

More than 250,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) work in the meatpacking and food processing industries. Many of our workplaces include immigrant workers. Enforcement actions aimed strictly at workplaces like these accomplish nothing in terms of stemming the flow of workers entering the U.S. seeking the American Dream. Instead, they create huge turmoil in communities, significantly disrupt the otherwise stable production in the plant and violate the civil rights of all workers in the workplace.

The UFCW will continue to fight for reform that ensures that all working people—immigrant and native-born—are able to improve their lives and realize the American dream.

For the UFCW position on immigration go to www.ufcw.org and click on Issues.

Contacts

UFCW
Jill Cashen, 202-728-4797
or
Jim Papian, 202-466-1564
[e-mail]

[rodeodance]

1. I think mucky August will bring us horror stories of this crackdown.