Pursuit of American Freedom

Lady Liberty and the Pursuit of American Freedom

I recently visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York and came away with some strong feelings on the present immigration issue. My grandfather came to the United States from Poland, alone when he was 17 without any other family members and no immediate family living in the U.S. We found the documents recording his arrival and saw some of the questions required to enter the country. He declared that he was not insane and was not a criminal. He also possessed no real skills. It was very emotional to see his name, where he ca I me from, the ship he was on and other information like his lack of knowledge of the English language in document form.

I felt something special when I was reminded of the rebuilding of Lady Liberty and the small role his descendants played in the rebuilding. His son and grandson worked at a mill that donated stainless steel rod towards the rebuilding of the Statue of Liberty to replace the old steel skeleton that had rusted.

I was less surprised to learn that two of the top three jobs held by Polish immigrants were working in mines and steel mills. My grandfather worked digging ditches and ultimately became a boss for a small gas company in Western New York. My grandfather’s legacy lives on through my grandchildren, who are the fourth generation of Americans born in this country. 

I wonder what would happen today if an unaccompanied 17-year-old boy who could not read, write or speak English, and had no identifiable skills, showed up at immigration and asked to enter our country to start a new life. 

Bill Pienta, SOAR President

Republican Statements on Immigration

Indiana Senator Mike Delph's Bigotry

Indiana Senator Mike Delph, a Republican from the Carmel area has proposed that Indiana become like Arizona in dealing with "illegal immigration".

In an interview not long ago he said that he's "concerned about the exploitation of cheap labor for profit and the exploitation of human beings that's going on today in the state of Indiana."

I think if Senator Delph was truly concerned about the exploitation of human beings that's going on in the state of Indiana, he would be introducing legislation that would make it illegal for companies to permanently replace workers if they are locked out or find it necessary to strike a company.

To me, Senator Delph's proposed legislation is nothing more than his way of expressing his bigotry.

Argument for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Show Me Your Papers

Wow. How would you like to be walking down the street sometime and have a police officer come up to you and say, "show me your papers." Most of us would be pretty upset about that, but assuming the officer had a good reason, we would most likely show him our drivers license thinking that would suffice. But wait, he doesn't want our drivers license, he wants to see your birth certificate and Social Security card. But you don't have those documents on your person. Until you can provide them, he calls for a backup car or paddy wagon to transport you to the police department to be held until you're able to provide them. Sound absurd?

Well, that's what the state of Arizona just passed into law. Sounds crazy, I know, but the issue of illegal immigration is what prompted that state to pass such a law. Scary huh?

Can a city or county also pass such a law? If a city were predominately made up of say, Mexican Americans, could they require people with a Polish Acsent to also "show me the papers".

What about Irish, or German?

Somehow this all doesn't sound very American to me. Sounds Nazi like, (show me your papers).

I suppose Arizonians are freedom lovers?

Immigration Reform

By LINDA CHAVEZ-THOMPSON
Sunday, March 26th, 2006

They are Latin American immigrants tending the manicured lawns in wealthy New York neighborhoods. They are Indian computer programmers working for major corporations. They are women, born in Mexico and Africa, who tend our children. They pay taxes and have been contributing members of our communities for years. Many have families. We rely on their labor each and every day. Yet the basic rights of these workers - to a minimum wage, a safe workplace and fair treatment - are routinely trampled upon. This exploitation hurts all of us, foreign and native-born alike. It must end, and the overhauling of our nation's broken immigration laws is essential to achieving this goal.

Tragically, all immigration reform proposals currently circulating in the halls of Congress fail to protect even the most basic rights of immigrant workers and their families. Just last week, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) put forth his own makeshift proposal - topping the list of legislative failures. He wants to criminalize immigrant workers, deepening the potential for abuse and exploitation while undermining wages and labor protections for all.

To achieve comprehensive immigration reform, we have to give up the illusion that enforcement of laws alone can fix our broken system. Effective reform must include three interdependent goals. First, our government must uniformly enforce laws on workplace standards. All workers, including immigrants, should earn a minimum wage, have safe jobs and receive fair treatment. When immigrants are treated poorly, workplace standards are dragged down for all workers. Second, we must reject guest worker programs. Because these workers are wholly dependent on host employers for both their livelihoods and legal status, guest workers are ripe for exploitation. Finally, there must be a path to permanent residency for immigrant workers already here.

Undocumented workers are under constant threat of deportation, and employers cheat them out of due wages. They work the most dangerous jobs - among foreign-born workers, workplace fatality has increased by an alarming 46% between 1992 and 2002. When immigrant workers try to correct these injustices by forming unions, they are harassed, intimidated and terminated. When all else fails to break a union drive, employers simply call in the immigration authorities and everyone gets deported for standing up for basic rights.

Criminalizing undocumented workers makes them easy prey for unscrupulous employers. That in turn drives down working standards for all Americans and creates an undemocratic, two-tiered society.

We need an immigration policy that provides a real path to citizenship for those workers already here and that helps meet the future needs of workers in a fair way. We should recognize immigrant workers as full members of society - permanent residents with full rights that employers may not exploit.

As a nation that prides itself on fair treatment and equality, we simply cannot settle for anything less.

Chavez-Thompson is executive vice president of AFL-CIO.