Thread: AFL-CIO Our Future Depends on Immigration Reform

James Parks, Jul 19, 2010


The nation’s immigration system is broken and how we treat immigrants will determine what kind of economic future our country will have, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said today.

On a live webcast, Solis and Trumka, both children of immigrants, called for reforms that secure our borders and provide a clear path to citizenship for those immigrants who are already here.

Both said the nation has benefited and will continue to benefit from the contributions of immigrants. Solis says we must face the fact that millions of undocumented immigrants are working at jobs in the United States and they are part of an underground economy that is not paying taxes and is depriving the nation of badly needed revenue.


At the same time, she pointed out, it would be a logistical and humanitarian nightmare to try and deport 11 million immigrants and break up families orphaning children, many of whom were born here and are now U.S. citizens by birth.

In fact, we have green-card soldiers who are serving us in the military, coming home from Afghanistan or Iraq to find their spouse is about to be deported. What kind of civilization allows that? That just tears apart what we know as our history in America.

In response to a question as to why the AFL-CIO is supporting legalization when so many Americans are out of work, Trumka said: The system is broken and employers are using the broken system to drive down wages for everybody.

As wages go down, there’s less economic growth, less economic consumption, so we don’t create jobs….The undocumented workers are already performing jobs out there, but they’re doing it at substandard rates. If everybody has to compete by the same rules, everybody will do a little bit better to create more economic activity and we all start to win in the future.

Trumka also warned that working people must look carefully at the members of Congress who are opposing comprehensive immigration reform. Almost all senators who voted against immigration reform also voted against the Employee Free Choice Act, he said.

It’s the same people who are against any kind of reform, whether it’s [extending unemployment insurance], giving aid to state and local governments so they can prevent the layoff of teachers, firefighters and police officers. All of it ties together. If you’re going to have an economy that works for everybody, you really do have to look at the tax laws so that they start rewarding people for producing here, trade laws so it’s a fair playing field both ways, manufacturing policy so that you make things here and immigration policy so that the workers get the fruits of what they’re doing, pay taxes and create an economic base so everybody wins a little bit.

Solis said the effort to reform immigration should not be a partisan issue:

It should be about helping our economy, about helping us to keep our competitiveness. Many immigrants who do come here contribute so much to our innovation. Many of the businesses that have been created over the last few decades have come because…immigrant populations have started up new businesses.

Trumka concluded by saying how we treat immigrants will define us as a nation and determine the economic future of every worker, whether you’re union, nonunion, high-wage or low-wage.

Fixing this [immigration] system is important for our economic future and the standing we have around the world.
http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/07/19/solis ... on-reform/ Notice that they closed the comment section so that American citizen union members like myself cannot exercise their free speech...

Dr on 19.07.2010 at 19:08 (Reply)
Do you fools really believe that a bunch of un-educated and under educated people working at the very bottom of the wage ladder will pay enough in TAXES to make a difference.You know they can not. They can not earn enough that the Federal Government will not give them back every dime they paid.I don’t remember what the cut off point is but you have to make several thousand dollars a year before you owe any tax otherwise it is refunded.If you would put out of work AMERICAN CITIZENS in the jobs that these people have torn apart you would have your tax base back.You know like back to work in the CHICKEN INDUSTRY.The AFL-CIO is becoming the working person’s worst nightmare.This is not what you are being paid to do.Try fighting for the UNION MEMBERS you already have.

tricia on 20.07.2010 at 14:05 (Reply)
The first thing that the U.S. should do is get rid of Hilda Solis, and her blubbering bullshit about illegals having the same benefits and wages as AMERICAN CITIZENS. Send her back to Mexico and let her take all the illgals with her. That one thing would solve economic problems, unemployment problems, and all the crime and drugs on our streets!

4theusa on 19.07.2010 at 20:34 (Reply)
The last time the system was “brokenâ€

Nick Cullen on 20.07.2010 at 13:20 (Reply)
Mr. Trumka. My grandparents were LEGAL IMMIGRANTS. My father worked in the steel mills for over 40 years. He is opposed to ILLEGAL IMMIGRANts as I am. Where are you coming from on this? I suppose you want more union members if this goes through.

Your comments today about benefits extension would not be a consideration if we would make the jobs available to those now taken by illegals.

I am willing to talk to you if you have the guts to do so.

Alex Majthenyi on 20.07.2010 at 14:59 (Reply)
Thank you Dr, tricia, 4theusa and Nick.

Our immigration system is not broken. We stopped enforcing our laws for a group of people. The law works well for everyone else.
Rewarding aliens who break the law will not define us as a nation! People who applied to enter this nation legally will!
What does Labor Secretary Hilda Solis have to do with illegal aliens? Why is she telling employers how to break the law? Her job is enforcing the law!

Mexico is doing quite well. We want access to Mexican jobs and benefits. Our immigration laws should be reciprocal.

Note: I am a legal immigrant and naturalized citizen.

There already exists a path to citizenship for immigrants...it's called LEGAL immigration. Illegal aliens need not apply..they need to be sent back to their countries, no excuses!

AFCLO had better stop ripping off its members if it expects to survive. Unions were formed to protect the American worker from greedy employers. Boy has that changed! Now unions are just as bad as the greedy employers and no longer protect American workers, they just want to ensure $$$$$ for themselves.

I think union reform is needed, along with enforciement of immigration laws.

Cappy30 on 21.07.2010 at 17:37 (Reply)
Now we know Trumka and Solis are children of immigrants and so that makes it all right to shelter illegal aliens and their anchor babies. No, those children do not have to be “orphanedâ€