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U.S. Immigration
Reform
And the Elephant in the Room
Jobs w/ Justice Fair Trade Free Trade Migrant March Immigration /NAFTA NAFTA Immigration Law Primer
We have pundits of all stripes pitting workers against workers, nations
against nations, and people against people. We need to collect ourselves and
see through the fallacies.
The millions of "immigrants" who rushed north are clearly a response to the
"elephant in the room." (N A F T A) When huge transnational corporations dumped
their goods in Central and South Americas... the economies of those
countries were devastated. Small farmers were ruined. Small businesses were
overwhelmed. Lives were destroyed.
"In the important case of Mexico, corporations and agribusiness
promoted NAFTA to exploit low-wage workers and dump taxpayer subsidized
agricultural products in Mexico. This has impoverished the Mexican people,
many of whom are forced to immigrate to survive. Interestingly, the number
of Mexican migrants to the United States actually decreased by 18% in the
three years preceding NAFTA, but increased by 61% in the first eight years
of NAFTA." (Laurie King, Portland JWJ)
Go figure...
The fact that millions of farmers and small business people become
economically desperate and are forced to immigrate is great for
corporations. These concerns WANT "guest workers" OR a class of undocumented
workers living n fear of deportation and no path to citizenship. This
creates a two-tier labor system which depresses wages for everyone.
The solution to this enigma, is not the Bush surrender-monkey
"solution" of caving-in (again) to the corporate agenda.
A real solution involves progressive trade and investment policies and
strategy, which does not pit rich transnational corporate players against
under-funded third-world economies. Instead of NAFTA, we need fair trade. If
we can help our
neighbors develop their economies, rather than undercutting
their efforts, immigration will decline and all ships will rise. This is the
heart of the issue. Like it or not.
We need to work for immigration reform and a reworking of NAFTA rather than
building walls, making hard-working migrants into felons, or other
small-minded and mean-spirited counter-intuitive retrograde repressions of
the human spirit and our collective well-being as a people. We can do much
better.
It will require bold, new, progressive leaders. We need public-spirited leaders with civic-commitment, rather than corporate CEO's with
conflicts of interest. Then perhaps America can be
reconciled, restored, and redeemed. We owe it to our children.
It has to do with respect and real American values.
tim
| U.S. Immigration Reform | MEDIA ADVISORY |
| A Primer on Immigration | Immigration Law |
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