Immigration
Building a border wall is an over-simplified answer to a very complicated question. The entire immigration system needs to be re-evaluated, simplified and clarified. The main problem is that we spend too much time, money and effort on trying to keep people out of the country without realizing that the main reason that they attempt to enter the country "illegally" is because we do not put enough time, money and effort into seeking out the type of people we want to move to America.
The process of "legal" immigration is too slow and difficult. It is so problematic that it is easier for people to disobey the law and enter "illegally." We should dramatically speed up the procedures for "legal" immigration so that people do not feel the need to avoid the bureaucratic red tape that currently makes the process overly difficult, expensive and time consuming.
We agree with the 2016 Green Party Platform:
"The Green Party stands firmly for social justice for all those living in this country regardless of their immigration status. Above all, policy and law must be humane. Anything less would be inconsistent with our Green Values, and with our nation’s values.
The Green Party accepts as a goal a world in which persons can freely choose to live in and work in any county he or she desires. We recognize that this would be impractical without reciprocity between nations. We seek that reciprocity as a practical goal. Countries do have a right to know the identity of persons seeking to enter. They also have the right to limit who can come in to protect public safety.
The U.S. needs a complete overhaul of its immigration laws. Our current situation has created extreme social injustice. Millions of people are living and working in the U.S. with no legal status, making them subject to extreme exploitation and abuse. Immigration raids are terrorizing the immigrant community. Families are being broken up. Employer abuses of undocumented workers are rampant.
The Green Party must consider immigration issues from an international standpoint, taking into account international labor and environmental standards, and human rights.
The following proposals may not yield perfect answers, but they provide better answers than the status quo. We must recognize that there cannot be any true solutions to the conflicts created by immigration until we are able to organize globally to overcome the power of multinational corporations, which are engaged in an unending campaign to drive down workers’ living standards everywhere. International cooperation and sol- idarity among labor organizations, to advance the rights of labor and raise such living standards globally, are essential to combat this trend. Until the power of the multinationals is curbed, we will continue to be con- fronted with seemingly “no win” choices.
The undocumented immigrants who are already residing and working in the United States, and their families, should be granted a legal status which includes the chance to become U.S. citizens. Persons should be excluded from this process only if they present a clear and present danger to other members of our society. The level of fees required for this process should not be a burden on low-income workers. In any path to citizenship created to provide an orderly and appropriate resolution of the status of persons currently in the United States without proper documentation, we demand a recognition of past, uncredited payments into the Social Security System as part of any fees assessed for regularization of status.
In regard to who should have a right to come and live and work in the U.S. we believe the following policies are fair:
The Green Party calls for permanent border passes to all citizens of Mexico and Canada whose identity can be traced and verified. The “matricula consular” should be accepted as one means of proving one’s identity. Work permits for citizens of Mexico and Canada must be easily obtainable, thereby decriminalizing the act of gainful employment. This action would help eliminate exploitation of undocumented persons by criminals engaged in human contraband (coyotes) and unethical employers. It would also help ensure that taxes will be paid in each corresponding nation per its laws. These measures will also help temporary residents from Mexico and Canada to secure driving privileges and liability insurance.
All persons fleeing political, racial, religious, or other types of persecution must be welcomed and given permanent resident status. The history of arbitrary denial of political asylum claims must be ended. Particular attention should be given to those minorities who are political exiles and refugees and those whose lives would be at risk if asylum is not granted.
Family reunification must be a priority in accepting applications for permanent residency. The years of waiting that families are currently put through must be ended.
Permanent residency should not be denied based on political views, racial or national origin, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, disability, or any other arbitrary basis. There are many countries in the world where the economic policies and military actions of the U.S. government or U.S. based corporations have caused extreme hardships. The peoples of these countries deserve special consideration if they wish to come to the U.S. to escape intolerable conditions created by our government or U.S. corporations.
We must keep faith with our commitment to the United Nations, to assist in the resettlement, including to our own country, of refugees currently stranded in refugee camps in other parts of the world.
All those who are issued work permits must have the op- tion to come and go from the U.S. as they desire. They must also have the option of remaining in the U.S. and becoming U.S. Citizens.
Interim Measures
Recognizing that a just reform of immigration policy may take some time, the Green Party supports:
Measures to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain drivers licenses if they can prove their identity and pass the required tests. This will improve road safety and allow the undocumented who are driving in any case to obtain insurance.
Measures to give legal status to undocumented immigrants who graduate from high school in the U.S. and who are otherwise qualified, to allow them to attend colleges and universities on an equal basis with other high school graduates. The Green Party is opposed to efforts to force undocumented youth into becoming cannon fodder for the U.S. military as the price for legal status.
Reduce wait lists and make the system work more efficiently: current numeric caps on immigrant visas must be increased. The current system of quotas and preferences has to be thoroughly and realistically reformed. Current backlogs must be brought up to date as soon as possible. Wait times for processing and resolving immigration benefit applications should be reduced to no more than six months. Pre-1996 screening criteria for legal permanent residency and citizenship applications should be restored.
The understandable concern about immigrant workers competing for jobs with current citizens cannot and should not be addressed by criminalizing undocumented immigration or punishing fellow victims of U.S. corporatist policies. Instead, we must reverse these policies. Among other things, we should repeal NAFTA, CAFTA, Fast Track and other corporate globalization policies. We must stop using our tax dollars to subsidize corporate agribusiness and to promote poverty in Latin America, and start using them to help re- ward environmentally responsible family farmers, encourage improved infrastructure and economic conditions in Latin America, and raise labor standards, at home and abroad. Here at home, we must also promote the policies, as outlined in the Economy and Workers’ Rights sections of this Platform, that can help us achieve a full employment economy at a living wage, including strictly enforcing and expanding the rights of all workers to form unions.
We advocate an end to employer sanctions, which have been shown to hurt not only undocumented workers but also U.S.-born workers (especially those of color). Instead, the focus on employers must be to vigorously enforce our wage and labor laws. Instead of further victimizing the victims of corporate globalization, create real opportunities and raise labor standards for all!
We oppose the provision of current law which allows local police to become agents of the immigration agency. Local policing functions should be totally separate from immigration enforcement.
Greens oppose “English-only” legislation. Immigrants al- ready have ample incentive to learn English. But when interaction with the government is limited to the English speaking, persons are put at additional risk of exploitation. The focus needs to be on providing adequate and accessible English language instruction and assistance. We advocate legislation to ensure that federal funds marked for communities to provide ESL (English as second language) training, and health and social support services to immi- grants actually go to them. When funds are spent in other areas, immigrants are being deprived of benefits that they earn as productive workers in their communities. Mean- while, courts, social service agencies, and all government agencies dealing with the public must provide trained and certified translators. Additionally, the language rights of peoples who were in this land before it became part of the U.S., including Native Americans and Mexicans in the South- west, must be recognized and respected.
We oppose the militarization of our borders, (mis)using the National Guard as border police, and building a wall be- tween the U.S. and Mexico. This will further intensify the human rights disaster our immigration policy has become, as well as seriously harm border ecosystems. We demand an immediate end to policies designed to force undocumented border-crossers into areas where conditions dramatically increase the risk of permanent injury or death, destruction of fragile environments, and the cutting off of corridors needed by wildlife for migration within their habitat. For these reasons we specifically oppose the walling off of both traditional urban crossing areas and of wilderness areas.
We mourn the death of those thousands of men, women and children who have died trying to cross this border, where a couple of decades ago such deaths were virtually unheard of. We must resist proposals that use illegal immigration as an excuse to put us all under further government monitoring and control by means of a national ID card or other identification or tracking systems.We also oppose the imposition of the “E-Verify” system to screen people applying for jobs. Citizen workers who have been propagandized to support “tougher” measures to identify and apprehend undocumented workers need to carefully consider what they are asking for. The same snare they want the government to use against undocumented workers can easily be used to repress them.
Our government is already engaged in illegal spying and surveillance of its own citizens. It is already invading our privacy. A national ID card system is one of the hallmarks of a totalitarian government or police state. We need to repeal the Real ID Act and resist the establishment of any system that would suppress freedom to travel and require citizens and non-citizens alike to “show their papers” and reveal their private information to government monitors at every turn."
We agree with the 2016 Democratic Party Platform:
"We are proud of our heritage as a nation of immigrants. We know that today’s immigrants are tomorrow’s teachers, doctors, lawyers, government leaders, soldiers, entrepreneurs, activists, PTA members, and pillars of our communities."
"We reject attempts to impose a religious test to bar immigrants or refugees from entering the United States. It is un-American and runs counter to the founding principles of this country."
We agree with the 2016 Republican Party Platform:
"Just as immigrant labor helped build our country in the past, today’s legal immigrants are making vital contributions in every aspect of national life. Their industry and commitment to American values strengthens our economy, enriches our culture, and enables us to better understand and more effectively compete with the rest of the world."
"We are particularly grateful to the thousands of new legal immigrants, many of them not yet citizens, who are serving in the Armed Forces and among first responders. Their patriotism should encourage all to embrace the newcomers legally among us, assist their journey to full citizenship, and help their communities avoid isolation from the mainstream of society. We are also thankful for the many legal immigrants who continue to contribute to American society."
We agree with Our Revolution:
"We cannot and should not sweep up millions of men, women, and children – many of whom lived here for many years, contribute to our society, and are integrated into the fabric of American life – and throw them out of the country unjustly. It is categorically unacceptable that so many voices insisted that the large numbers of desperate, vulnerable, and unaccompanied children primarily from Central America ... should be turned away and sent back to the countries they fled. Sadly, many of these same voices now advocate for the United States to turn our backs on desperate refugees fleeing violence and terrorism in Syria. Now is not the time for us to succumb to racism and bigotry. We cannot allow ourselves to be divided by the anti-immigrant and xenophobic hysteria.
America has always been a haven for the oppressed. We cannot and must not shirk the historic role of the United States as a protector of vulnerable people fleeing persecution."
Through legislation and executive action, we must implement a humane and secure immigration policy that will:
- Dismantle inhumane deportation programs and detention centers;
- Pave the way for a swift and fair legislative roadmap to citizenship for the eleven million undocumented immigrants;
- Ensure our border remains secure while respecting local communities;
- Regulate the future flow of immigrants by modernizing the visa system and rewriting bad trade agreements;
- Enhance access to justice and reverse the criminalization of immigrants;
- Establish parameters for independent oversight of key U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies.
1. Deportation and Detention
The growth of the immigrant detention/deportation machine and the expansion of border militarization has perpetuated unjust policies and resulted in the separation of hundreds of thousands of immigrant families.
Immigration Enforcement
Expand DACA and DAPA – We must work to expand President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) to provide broad administrative relief to the parents of DREAMers, the parents of citizens, the parents of legal permanent residents, and other immigrants who would have been given legal protections by the 2013 Senate-passed immigration bill.
This would allow all undocumented people who have been in the United States for at least five years to stay in the country without fear of being deported. This broad administrative relief is well within the President’s executive authority.
Over 85% of the nation’s aspiring Americans have resided in the United States for at least five years.
Under this plan, close to nine million individuals would be able to apply for deferred action.
Protect Immigrant Workers Exercising their Rights. Legislatively, we have to establish a whistleblower visa for workers reporting labor violations. Administratively, we need to establish an affirmative process for these individuals to request deferred action. Many employers regularly abuse immigrant workers knowing employees will not hold them accountable for fear of deportation.
Provide Permanent Immigration Relief to Families. Our next President must expand the Administration’s parole-in-place policies to include undocumented relatives of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents and also provide deferred action for relatives who came to the U.S. on a visa but fell out of status. Today, this policy is only available to current and aspiring service members and their families. Expanding parole-in-place would eliminate the barriers that prevent certain relatives of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents from obtaining lawful permanent resident status (or a “green card”) under federal law.
Decouple Local Law Enforcement from Immigration Enforcement. In too many instances, deportation programs like the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP), the 287(g) program, and the Criminal Alien Program have unjustly turned local law enforcement officials into immigration officers. Racial profiling and the criminalization of communities of color form the foundation of these deportation programs which should be eliminated. In addition, we will fight to implement the recommendations of President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing to “decouple federal immigration enforcement from routine local policing.”
Employ Humanitarian Parole to Reunite Families. We must fight to expand the use of humanitarian parole to ensure the return of unjustly deported immigrants. The United States must do the right thing and guarantee the swiftest possible reunification of these broken families.
Promote Cooperation Between Immigrants and Local Law Enforcement. We must fight to wholeheartedly reject the “The Great Sanctuary City Slander” as the politics of fear, and supports enacting community trust policies. These policies will strengthen relationships between community members and local law enforcement, respect the constitutional rights of immigrants, and reflect the will of a locally elected electorate.
Expand Access to Counsel for Immigrants. Based on the constitutionally enshrined principle of habeas corpus, we need to increase access to legal counsel for detained immigrants. This expansion is critical in light of instances where ICE coerced large numbers of immigrants to sign their own deportation order. We will fight to vigorously implement the protection against coerced or “unwitting deportation” established as part of Padilla v Kentucky (2010).
Properly Fund Our Nation’s Immigration Courts. To ensure that our immigration system respects constitutional protections, we will push for Congress to provide additional funding and immigration judges to the Executive Office for Immigration Review and restore discretion to judges and allow them to consider the unique circumstances of an individual’s case.
Close Loopholes that Allow Racial Profiling by Federal Authorities. We will fight to end racial profiling. Immigrants should never face deportation as a result of racial or ethnic profiling. We will work to revise the U.S. Department of Justice’s Guidance Regarding the Use of Race by Federal Law Enforcement Agencies. Under the current guidance, the Department of Justice carved out significant exceptions for federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI, TSA and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to profile racial, religious, and other minorities at or in the vicinity of the border. Furthermore, the Guidance does not apply to most state and local law enforcement agencies.
Detention
End For-Profit Detention. We must fight to end federal, state and municipal contracts with for-profit private prisons within two years. Termination of these contracts will eliminate the incentive for the private prison industry to support punitive, over-inclusive laws that lead to the detention of 34,000 immigrants on any given day. In addition, we must push for Congress to enact the Justice is Not for Sale Act, which would reinstate a federal parole program that will include immigrants.
End Family Detention. We must end family detention. He will work to ensure that detention centers do not hold families and adhere to the letter and spirit of the Flores Order. The detention of families, most of which come to our country seeking protection under our laws, is an affront to the values our nation was founded upon.
Propose Budgets with Smart, Targeted Enforcement. We must demand Congress to defund the detention bed quota. Detention should be based on actual need and not arbitrary numbers set by Congress. Congress needs to defund the Department of Justice’s State Criminal Alien Assistance Program.
Make Detention Practices Accountable. In the narrow, rare circumstances where detention may continue, we must work towards significantly improving conditions inside detention facilities, especially for vulnerable populations including pregnant women, LGBT individuals, and detainees with disabilities. Moreover, we must immediately address the racial bias on display in the disproportionate detention of Mexican nationals. This deplorable reality bears witness to bias displayed at both the arrest stage and then again when making custody determinations.
Alternatives to Detention. We need to promote alternatives to detention, which can cost as little as 70 cents a day. The use of these substitutes to detention would allow thousands of non-violent immigrant detainees to reunite with their families as they wait for their day in court.
Guarantee Due Process and Bond Hearings. We must fight to ensure that immigrants have their day in court, including bond hearings and access to due process protections.
2. Eleven Million New Americans
We must make a path to citizenship for the undocumented population the building block of a new humane immigration system and not as a pretext to ramp up enforcement that separates families. Recognizing the difficult path to legislate a comprehensive solution to our nation’s outdated immigration system, we will lead a political revolution that mobilizes millions of Americans, particularly Latinos and immigrants, to ensure that Congress acts on what the majority of Americans demand – a comprehensive and humane immigration reform policy.
Establish Broad Eligibility for Relief. We must fight to work to ensure that the roadmap to citizenship is inclusive, particularly for women and does not contain arbitrary cut off eligibility dates and application periods. Such dates risk excluding hundreds of thousands of people that have arrived in the United States “too late” but have become part of the American fabric. Moreover, in light of our nation’s deep-rooted belief in rehabilitation and acknowledgement of the criminalization of communities of color, the roadmap to citizenship must allow non-violent individuals with prior contacts with our criminal justice system to apply for relief. For example, non-violent immigration-related offenses should not automatically disqualify a worker or their family from obtaining immigration relief. Old convictions like those that led to the deportation of an Iowa City pastor, should not disqualify individuals from the roadmap to citizenship.
Establish a Reasonable and Fair Wait for Citizenship. Future legislation must contain a roadmap to citizenship that allows aspiring Americans to become lawful permanent residents and become citizens within five years. The registered provisional immigrant status in the 2013 Senate immigration bill was a compromise that delayed eligibility for citizenship and created additional, unnecessary bureaucracy.
Minimize Financial Penalties and Fees. As DACA has demonstrated, monetary costs often represents the greatest obstacle for eligible individuals to come forward and apply for immigration relief. Immigrants will already have to pay thousands of dollars in regular administrative fees to apply for permanent administrative relief. Future immigration reform should not add onerous fines on top of those administrative fees. Consequently, we must work to ensure that the financial penalties in a roadmap to citizenship are fair.
End the Three-Year, Ten-Year, and Permanent Bars. We must push for Congress to end the lengthy, forced and prolonged exit from the country that many immigrants endure when trying to leave the country to adjust their status by rescinding the three-year, ten-year and permanent bars.
Provide Expansive Relief to DREAMers. Future legislation must immediately declare DREAMers eligible to serve in the uniformed services, receive financial aid, and become eligible for in-state tuition if they meet a state’s residency requirements. Additionally, future immigration reform should provide expeditious citizenship to DREAMers.
3. Border Security and Militarization
We believe that we can ensure that our borders are modern and secure. Indeed, we must continually modernize our border security measures and maintain security, all while protecting the rights and needs of our border communities. Border communities have much to offer the nation economically and culturally, but these contributions have been stunted or overshadowed by a negligent buildup of border enforcement. Communities along our border, particularly along the southern border, have become militarized and are being patrolled by a highly weaponized Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP).
A 21st Century Border Must Use Resources Efficiently and Effectively. Appropriations must be re-directed away from boondoggle walls to high grade cameras, thermal imaging, movement sensors and other technologies. More resources must also be allocated to CBP training and oversight, and to rebuild crumbling infrastructure along the border region. We must fight to work to ensure that the CBP is a highly functioning law enforcement body.
Reject Piecemeal Border Enforcement. We must reject the argument that the border must be further militarized before the implementation of a roadmap to citizenship. We must remove the insecurity that border communities face as we modernize and make our border security operations more efficient.
Reduce Border Deaths. We must fight to reduce the unacceptable and inhumane number of deaths on the border. One practice that has no place in a humane immigration system is the use of remote deportations. Dumping someone in an unfamiliar location can be lethal as the State Department has recognized that parts of Mexico are run by “organized criminal groups.”
End Operation Streamline and Barriers to Asylum. We must end Operation Streamline and remove the barriers established in 1996 that prevent those removed under Expedited Removal from applying for asylum.
Implement the “Best Interests of the Child” Standard. It is imperative that a “best interests of child” standard is used in all decision-making and implement child welfare screenings that are conducted by CBP officers along with child welfare experts. In addition, We must fight to ensure that all children at our borders will be provided procedural protections by providing counsel, and legal orientation programs in the child’s native language.
Turn Back the Militarization of the Southern Border. The militarization of the border has reached new heights. We need to ensure that we have a modern, secure, efficient border, avoiding the militarization of our border communities.
Hold CBP Accountable. Professionalism, accountability, and transparency at the CBP must be a central agency mission. We must fight to require CBP agents to wear body cameras, make complaints public, expand training, and hold agents accountable for excessive force just like any other law enforcement agency. In addition, we need to advance legislation supported by a bi-partisan coalition of border communities and leaders aimed at improving training, increasing accountability, and ensuring the input and consultation of border community residents. The number of deaths of civilians, including numerous U.S. citizens, by CBP are unacceptable. The CBP internal affairs office must be fully funded and staffed. Steps taken by the CBP surrounding excessive force on the southern border must be expanded and we must eliminate racial profiling, violence and prolonged detention.
End the “Constitution Free” Zone. We must fight to ensure that border security resources are invested where needed. In order to set the tone for a more efficient and humane immigration policy, we need to update antiquated federal regulations that define the border region for certain purposes as extending 100 miles from the actual border and direct those resources where they are most needed. For example, we can conduct an immediate review of the nearly 170 Border Patrol checkpoints in the interior of the U.S. and redirect resources where most needed.
4. Future Flow of Immigrants
A humane immigration system must honestly look at creating viable, legal channels that match our labor market needs. We must seriously reassess our foreign and international trade policies in light of the effects they have on migration and U.S. workers. A failure to do so will contribute to future flows that even the best-designed system will have extreme difficulty in addressing.
Keep Families Together. A humane immigration system must, at its core, recognize that family is integral to a worker’s pursuit of happiness and economic productivity. Additionally, family members are often either workers themselves or, in the case of children, future workers. The preservation of family-based visas is at the center of a more humane, reformed immigration system which recognizes that workers with families nearby are healthier and that their families, particularly children, benefit immensely. Prioritizing the unity of families is a time-tested American value.
Protect Women from Discrimination. We must reject the so-called “merit-based” “social engineering” immigration policies that discriminate against women. In addition to upholding the family-based visa system, he will work to ensure that mothers, sisters and wives who come into the United States with their families have the same right to work as their male relatives while enhancing protections for survivors of gender-based violence and human trafficking.
Strengthen and Expand Our Support for Refugees.In light of the Syrian refugee crisis, we have to welcome refugees to the US and meet our international responsibilities. When hundreds of thousands of people have lost everything and have nothing left but the shirts on their backs, we should not turn our backs on refugees escaping violence, whether it be Syrians in the Middle East or young children in Latin America. We need to continue our efforts to provide refugees fleeing violence with the opportunity for a new life, and explore additional ways to address the humanitarian crisis.
End the Economic Exploitation of Immigrant Workers. The visa system must be fundamentally reformed to prevent employers from abusing and exploiting guest workers, especially in the context of H-2B, H1-B, and J-1 workers. Binding workers to a specific employer or not allowing their family members to work creates a situation rife for abuse and exacerbates an already unequal relationship between the employer and the employee. We must substantially increase prevailing wages that employers pay temporary guest workers.
Protect and Expand the Legal Rights of Immigrant Workers. Regardless of status, immigrant workers should not fear holding employers accountable for exploitation. We must push Congress to authorize and substantially increase funding for the Legal Services Corporation to provide legal representation to guest workers exploited by employers. Moreover, we need to work toward requiring employers to reimburse guest workers for housing, transportation expenses, and workers’ compensation.
Operate Smart and Fair Employment Verification. The regime of employer sanctions enacted through President Reagan’s immigration reform legislation has morphed from the terror of workplace raids to the “silent raids” of I-9 audits. In both scenarios, workers usually lose out in the end, particularly when employers turn over their employees to ICE during labor disputes. An electronic verification system like E-Verify should protect workers’ due process rights, and contain the strongest possible protections against abuse.
Reduce Health Care Costs. We strongly believes that all immigrants, including undocumented workers and their families, must be able to purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) marketplace exchanges. Aspiring Americans represent a large portion of the remaining uninsured and allowing these Americans to purchase health insurance with their own money is critical to reducing health care costs and moving forward with universal health care coverage. Moreover, we must fight to direct the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to promulgate regulations that restore access to the ACA for all immigrants with deferred action, including DACA and DAPA recipients, by classifying them as “lawfully present.”
Defend the Diversity Visa from Attacks. Humane immigration reform must protect and expand the diversity visa. Too often, Congress seeks to end the Diversity Visa program on the grounds that immigration is a zero-sum game. The Diversity Visa program is an enormous and inexpensive source of goodwill, affords potential immigrants with no family ties an opportunity to join our great nation, and is particularly important to African immigrants.
Ensure Access to Asylum for Persecuted Immigrants. The Attorney General needs to replicate former Attorney General Janet Reno’s efforts to help extend asylum to victims of domestic violence and by classifying unaccompanied minors coming from Latin American and victims of criminal gang activity as distinct groups of people fleeing persecution. This classification will reduce the barriers for these groups to successfully apply for and receive asylum. Additionally, credible fear of persecution standard need to be restored to its pre-2014 level, allowing more people to present their claims to an immigration judge instead of being summarily deported. We must require DHS to screen arriving immigrants, especially juveniles and families, for humanitarian and immigration relief.
4. Future Flow of Immigrants
A humane immigration system must honestly look at creating viable, legal channels that match our labor market needs. We must seriously reassess our foreign and international trade policies in light of the effects they have on migration and U.S. workers. A failure to do so will contribute to future flows that even the best-designed system will have extreme difficulty in addressing.
Keep Families Together. A humane immigration system must, at its core, recognize that family is integral to a worker’s pursuit of happiness and economic productivity. Additionally, family members are often either workers themselves or, in the case of children, future workers. The preservation of family-based visas is at the center of a more humane, reformed immigration system which recognizes that workers with families nearby are healthier and that their families, particularly children, benefit immensely. Prioritizing the unity of families is a time-tested American value.
Protect Women from Discrimination. We must reject the so-called “merit-based” “social engineering” immigration policies that discriminate against women. In addition to upholding the family-based visa system, he will work to ensure that mothers, sisters and wives who come into the United States with their families have the same right to work as their male relatives while enhancing protections for survivors of gender-based violence and human trafficking.
Strengthen and Expand Our Support for Refugees.In light of the Syrian refugee crisis, we have to welcome refugees to the US and meet our international responsibilities. When hundreds of thousands of people have lost everything and have nothing left but the shirts on their backs, we should not turn our backs on refugees escaping violence, whether it be Syrians in the Middle East or young children in Latin America. We need to continue our efforts to provide refugees fleeing violence with the opportunity for a new life, and explore additional ways to address the humanitarian crisis.
End the Economic Exploitation of Immigrant Workers. The visa system must be fundamentally reformed to prevent employers from abusing and exploiting guest workers, especially in the context of H-2B, H1-B, and J-1 workers. Binding workers to a specific employer or not allowing their family members to work creates a situation rife for abuse and exacerbates an already unequal relationship between the employer and the employee. We must substantially increase prevailing wages that employers pay temporary guest workers.
Protect and Expand the Legal Rights of Immigrant Workers. Regardless of status, immigrant workers should not fear holding employers accountable for exploitation. We must push Congress to authorize and substantially increase funding for the Legal Services Corporation to provide legal representation to guest workers exploited by employers. Moreover, we need to work toward requiring employers to reimburse guest workers for housing, transportation expenses, and workers’ compensation.
Operate Smart and Fair Employment Verification. The regime of employer sanctions enacted through President Reagan’s immigration reform legislation has morphed from the terror of workplace raids to the “silent raids” of I-9 audits. In both scenarios, workers usually lose out in the end, particularly when employers turn over their employees to ICE during labor disputes. An electronic verification system like E-Verify should protect workers’ due process rights, and contain the strongest possible protections against abuse.
Reduce Health Care Costs. We strongly believes that all immigrants, including undocumented workers and their families, must be able to purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) marketplace exchanges. Aspiring Americans represent a large portion of the remaining uninsured and allowing these Americans to purchase health insurance with their own money is critical to reducing health care costs and moving forward with universal health care coverage. Moreover, we must fight to direct the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to promulgate regulations that restore access to the ACA for all immigrants with deferred action, including DACA and DAPA recipients, by classifying them as “lawfully present.”
Defend the Diversity Visa from Attacks. Humane immigration reform must protect and expand the diversity visa. Too often, Congress seeks to end the Diversity Visa program on the grounds that immigration is a zero-sum game. The Diversity Visa program is an enormous and inexpensive source of goodwill, affords potential immigrants with no family ties an opportunity to join our great nation, and is particularly important to African immigrants.
Ensure Access to Asylum for Persecuted Immigrants. The Attorney General needs to replicate former Attorney General Janet Reno’s efforts to help extend asylum to victims of domestic violence and by classifying unaccompanied minors coming from Latin American and victims of criminal gang activity as distinct groups of people fleeing persecution. This classification will reduce the barriers for these groups to successfully apply for and receive asylum. Additionally, credible fear of persecution standard need to be restored to its pre-2014 level, allowing more people to present their claims to an immigration judge instead of being summarily deported. We must require DHS to screen arriving immigrants, especially juveniles and families, for humanitarian and immigration relief.
5. Balanced Trade Agreements
Inequality across the world is universally acknowledged as the driving force behind migration. This inequality does not develop organically and the United States must be introspective about its role. For example, the ill-conceived NAFTA, devastated local economies and pushed millions to migrate.
Establish Fair and Equitable Trade Policies. We must fight to rewrite our trade policies to end the race to the bottom and work to lift the living standard of Americans and workers throughout the world. Not only have our trade policies with Mexico, Central America, and China led to the loss of millions of decent-paying jobs and thousands of factories, but they have led to destitution for local communities around the world. Accordingly, our nation must level the playing field for workers everywhere. Those who wish to remain in their home country should be able to earn livable wages and not migrate for economic survival. Furthermore, we will work tirelessly to build an international coalition to fight global poverty and address crises to humanely manage migration patterns. Multi-faceted policies that look beyond our borders are critical to addressing the root causes of migration and economic inequality.
5. Balanced Trade Agreements
Inequality across the world is universally acknowledged as the driving force behind migration. This inequality does not develop organically and the United States must be introspective about its role. For example, the ill-conceived NAFTA, devastated local economies and pushed millions to migrate.
Establish Fair and Equitable Trade Policies. We must fight to rewrite our trade policies to end the race to the bottom and work to lift the living standard of Americans and workers throughout the world. Not only have our trade policies with Mexico, Central America, and China led to the loss of millions of decent-paying jobs and thousands of factories, but they have led to destitution for local communities around the world. Accordingly, our nation must level the playing field for workers everywhere. Those who wish to remain in their home country should be able to earn livable wages and not migrate for economic survival. Furthermore, we will work tirelessly to build an international coalition to fight global poverty and address crises to humanely manage migration patterns. Multi-faceted policies that look beyond our borders are critical to addressing the root causes of migration and economic inequality.
6. Immigration Integration
Integration into the great American mosaic is extremely important. Yet our immigrant integration policies, often not a priority in our national discourse, gravitate towards forced assimilation and, even as our society became more inclusive, provided little support, guidance, or even a welcome path to becoming an American.
Fully Fund and Prioritize Immigrant Integration. We must recognize that integration is a two-way process that benefits newcomers and Americans alike. Helping immigrants become part of our ever-changing national fabric is essential to a true national security policy, one where aspiring Americans deeply believe in the values of our nation. We need to call for greater investment in immigrant integration as the returns on modest investments are often substantial, both culturally and economically.
Expand Access to Naturalization. There are approximately nine million lawful permanent residents who are eligible to naturalize and become citizens but do not due to financial obstacles. As such, it is well past time to for Congress to appropriate resources to strengthen the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) budget and to reduce application fees. High fees for immigration benefits, especially naturalization, act as a deterrent for aspiring Americans to embrace U.S. citizenship and are not in keeping with the American immigrant tradition.
Connect Integration with Educational Programs. Immigrant integration occurs in our schools, our workplaces, and in the community at large. Our Revolution’s policies to make public colleges and universities tuition free, raise the minimum wage, expand Social Security, and make it easier for workers to form unions will benefit all Americans, regardless of immigration status. In addition, we must foster increased access to English as a Second Language instruction, and early learning programs for children.
We agree with Andrew Yang 2020:
"11.3 million people live in the U.S. illegally. The vast majority are hard-working individuals who contribute to their local communities while taking jobs no one else wants usually for less-than-minimum wage. Outside of their immigration status, most are law-abiding, and many have children who are American citizens. Undocumented immigrants account for approximately $37 billion in output per year and pay nearly $12 billion in state and local taxes (property, income, and sales).
Deporting 11.3 million people would be impossible even if one wanted to. It would cost $120 billion, gut the economy and be largely ineffective anyway. It would also separate 4.1 million children from their parents, which is inhumane and unconscionable on multiple levels."
"Having so many undocumented people in this country is far from ideal. But they are here now. We must integrate as many as possible into our society and economy. We should provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants that involves multiple stages and waiting periods, background checks, payment of back taxes or fines, along with education about America’s history and system of government. If you want to belong and contribute, we should make it possible for you to do so."
"We are a nation of immigrants, and many of our most enterprising people came to this country in the last generation or two. However they got here, there are over 11 million undocumented immigrants now living in our country, many with children who are citizens. We should provide a pathway to citizenship for those who abide by our laws and want to contribute. It would be far better to bring people into the economy and our way of life than to allow them and their children to live and work in the periphery."
We agree with the For a People's Party Platform:
"Undocumented immigrants risk their lives to come to America. They often work hard and dangerous jobs with long hours and low pay, especially in the agricultural, construction and restaurant industries. It’s time to reverse the criminalization of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in America and create a swift pathway to citizenship.
Protect refugees who come to America and their right to return from trips abroad. Refugee crises in the Middle East, Europe and the Americas can be traced back to wars and organized crime stemming from U.S. foreign policy. Stop the wars in the Middle East and North Africa that have destabilized countries such as Syria and Libya, destroying their infrastructure and forcing millions to leave their homes in desperation. End the drug war which exports cartel violence and corruption to Latin American countries, forcing many to flee to the U.S."
We agree with the Tea Party Patriots:
"We believe this country was founded by people who immigrated here from other countries, enriched our country throughout history and continue to enrich it today. We support the American Dream – the ability to come to this country, work hard, raise a family and fulfill your dreams and prosper. What we have issue with is the notion that Washington should make subjective decisions of when to enforce our immigration laws and when to set them aside.
Real reform would prioritize securing the border.
More than 70% of Americans want to see border security before anything else happens. As of right now, the amnesty bill does not require any real border security measures. Real reform wouldn’t pay lip service to border security or treat Americans like naive little children; it would secure our borders before any other steps are taken.
Real reform would be fair and Constitutional.
This point refers to the unfairness of rewarding people who broke the law while punishing those that have followed the law and are waiting to enter the country legally. Whatever reform ultimately occurs, it must be fair. After all, people come to this country hoping to live in a place where the rule of law prevails and the law is equally applied to all. Real reform would uphold the rule of law and justice rather than mocking it.
Real reform would be understandable.
This point refers to “comprehensive” legislation, i.e. giant bills that are written behind closed doors in confusing legalese and code, released with little time to review and analyze the bill, with so much complexity that regular Americans have no chance of understanding all of the implications and ramifications. Congress also uses these enormous bills to hide unpopular provisions and crony, corruptive deals because they know they will pass it before we can see what’s in it. Real reform would be broken into pieces that are manageable and understandable to the American people – no more comprehensive bills."
We agree with Brand New Congress:
"We need to fix our broken immigration system and provide undocumented Americans with the pathway to citizenship that politicians have promised them for decades.
For decades, politicians on both sides of the aisle have attempted to pass comprehensive immigration reform, but failed time and time again. With a perpetually dysfunctional Congress, it has been impossible for the establishment to reach a common-sense consensus that would improve the lives of all Americans by creating a more just and humane society, growing our economy, and demonstrating our fundamental American values."
(DACA) Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Executive Action)
(DAPA) Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (Executive Action)
(DREAMers) Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (Never passed)
Naturalization:
Yes, immigrants should be required to pass a citizenship test to demonstrate a basic understanding of United States history and government.
Yes, immigrants should be required to pass a citizenship test to demonstrate a basic understanding of United States history and government.
Deportation:
Yes, immigrants that are convicted of serious crimes should be deported after they have served their sentence.
Yes, immigrants that are convicted of serious crimes should be deported after they have served their sentence.
Dual Citizenship:
Yes, immigrants who have been naturalized should be allowed to maintain dual citizenship status.
Yes, immigrants who have been naturalized should be allowed to maintain dual citizenship status.
This is NOT an acceptable immigration policy.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
