Unions, religious organizations and immigrant groups Tuesday announced their support for new reform legislation introduced in Congress, saying it would ?enable hardworking immigrants to emerge from the shadows and get on a path to citizenship.?
Members of AFFIRM, the Alliance for Fair Federal Immigration Reform of Minnesota, said they support comprehensive immigration reform legislation sponsored by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. The proposal focuses on family reunification, earned legalization, backlog reduction, addressing future immigration flows and the creation of a temporary worker program.
?This legislation provides a road to citizenship that respects the contributions of immigrant workers,? said Abdul Jama, an organizer for Service Employees International Union Local 26 in Minneapolis and an immigrant to the United States from Kenya.
Key elements of the legislation include:
? Immigrants who have been in the United States for five or more years and can demonstrate at least two years of employment and payment of taxes would be eligible for legalization. Their spouse and unmarried children under 21 also would be eligible.
? Quotas would be loosened so that families of immigrants already in the U.S. can be reunited sooner.
? A new ?future worker program? would make available visas for immigrant workers in low-skilled occupations and more visas would be added for more highly skilled immigrants. However, the Department of Labor would be charged with making sure the issuing of the visas does not adversely affect wages and working conditions of U.S. workers.
? The legislation spells out that all workers, regardless of their status, are covered by overtime, safety, workers? compensation and other workplace laws. It would overturn the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Hoffman Plastics that said undocumented workers aren?t entitled to workplace protections.
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| Immigration attorney Suzanna de Leon praised reform legislation introduced in Congress Tuesday. |
Gutierrez and Kennedy announced their legislation in Washington, D.C., at about the same time AFFIRM held its news conference outside the Resource Center of the Americas in Minneapolis.
?This legislation would provide hard-working, tax-paying immigrants the security and stability they deserve to make the most out of the American dream,? said Gutierrez.
Zoe Massaquoi, a Minnesota resident who fled Liberia under a death threat, said she hopes Congress acts to pass the reform legislation so she can be reunited with her children, whom she has not seen in five years. She estimated that some 7 million people have been waiting years to be reunited with their loved ones.
Immigration lawyer Suzanna de Leon said she sees many such cases. ?When you talk about bringing families together, waiting for your papers to come to you for more than 10 years is inhumane,? she said.
She applauded the provisions of the legislation that restore worker protections taken away by the Hoffman Plastics decision. ?Legislation must address what the courts have not addressed,? she said.
Organizations participating in the news conference included the faith group, ISAIAH, and three unions: Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 17, the Service Employees International Union and United Food & Commercial Workers Local 789.
Uriel Perez Espinosa, vice president of HERE Local 17, said the labor movement is in the forefront of the struggle for immigrants? rights.
?We immigrants are the new workers of America,? he said, adding, ?In labor unions we say ?An injury to one is an injury to all.? An injury to immigrant workers is an injury to all workers.?
The fate of the Gutierrez-Kennedy legislation is unclear. President Bush has proposed immigration legislation that is not comprehensive and has been criticized by immigrant groups for proposing a revival of the guest worker program that they said was rife with exploitation.
Senators Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Tom Daschle, D-S.D., have also introduced a bill, which includes some but not all provisions of the Gutierrez-Kennedy legislation.
For more information
Visit the special Workday Minnesota section on immigrant workers
Visit the website of the Resource Center of the Americas, www.americas.org
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Unions, religious organizations and immigrant groups Tuesday announced their support for new reform legislation introduced in Congress, saying it would ?enable hardworking immigrants to emerge from the shadows and get on a path to citizenship.?
Members of AFFIRM, the Alliance for Fair Federal Immigration Reform of Minnesota, said they support comprehensive immigration reform legislation sponsored by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. The proposal focuses on family reunification, earned legalization, backlog reduction, addressing future immigration flows and the creation of a temporary worker program.
?This legislation provides a road to citizenship that respects the contributions of immigrant workers,? said Abdul Jama, an organizer for Service Employees International Union Local 26 in Minneapolis and an immigrant to the United States from Kenya.
Key elements of the legislation include:
? Immigrants who have been in the United States for five or more years and can demonstrate at least two years of employment and payment of taxes would be eligible for legalization. Their spouse and unmarried children under 21 also would be eligible.
? Quotas would be loosened so that families of immigrants already in the U.S. can be reunited sooner.
? A new ?future worker program? would make available visas for immigrant workers in low-skilled occupations and more visas would be added for more highly skilled immigrants. However, the Department of Labor would be charged with making sure the issuing of the visas does not adversely affect wages and working conditions of U.S. workers.
? The legislation spells out that all workers, regardless of their status, are covered by overtime, safety, workers? compensation and other workplace laws. It would overturn the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Hoffman Plastics that said undocumented workers aren?t entitled to workplace protections.
|
| Immigration attorney Suzanna de Leon praised reform legislation introduced in Congress Tuesday. |
Gutierrez and Kennedy announced their legislation in Washington, D.C., at about the same time AFFIRM held its news conference outside the Resource Center of the Americas in Minneapolis.
?This legislation would provide hard-working, tax-paying immigrants the security and stability they deserve to make the most out of the American dream,? said Gutierrez.
Zoe Massaquoi, a Minnesota resident who fled Liberia under a death threat, said she hopes Congress acts to pass the reform legislation so she can be reunited with her children, whom she has not seen in five years. She estimated that some 7 million people have been waiting years to be reunited with their loved ones.
Immigration lawyer Suzanna de Leon said she sees many such cases. ?When you talk about bringing families together, waiting for your papers to come to you for more than 10 years is inhumane,? she said.
She applauded the provisions of the legislation that restore worker protections taken away by the Hoffman Plastics decision. ?Legislation must address what the courts have not addressed,? she said.
Organizations participating in the news conference included the faith group, ISAIAH, and three unions: Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 17, the Service Employees International Union and United Food & Commercial Workers Local 789.
Uriel Perez Espinosa, vice president of HERE Local 17, said the labor movement is in the forefront of the struggle for immigrants? rights.
?We immigrants are the new workers of America,? he said, adding, ?In labor unions we say ?An injury to one is an injury to all.? An injury to immigrant workers is an injury to all workers.?
The fate of the Gutierrez-Kennedy legislation is unclear. President Bush has proposed immigration legislation that is not comprehensive and has been criticized by immigrant groups for proposing a revival of the guest worker program that they said was rife with exploitation.
Senators Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Tom Daschle, D-S.D., have also introduced a bill, which includes some but not all provisions of the Gutierrez-Kennedy legislation.
For more information
Visit the special Workday Minnesota section on immigrant workers
Visit the website of the Resource Center of the Americas, www.americas.org