PRESS RELEASE April 6, 2006

NO TO RACIST COMPROMISES ON THE SENATE’S IMMIGRATION REFORM OVERHAUL BILL: FULL IMMIGRANT RIGHTS NOW!

Los Angeles, California – We, in the Coalition in Defense of Immigrant Rights (CDIR) – Los Angeles and the People’s Community Organization for Reform and Empowerment (People’s CORE) Immigrant Rights and Social Justice Program (IRSJP), express our indignation and alarm over the compromise that was hammered out in the in the so-called “Immigration Reform Overhaul Bill” in the US Senate today, April 6, 2006.

We believe that the so-called compromise is still very racist and punitive to immigrants. It makes immigrants wait out long years before becoming citizens, and essentially treats them as “second class citizens.” It surely fits what President Bush himself calls “a Guest Workers Program” – a modified or another Bracero program similar to the one that contracted Mexican farm workers and treated them shabbily like medieval, indentured labor during the Second World War to tend to the farms while soldiers were fighting abroad.

For the benefit of the community and our people in the homeland, we print in full the main aspects of the so-called “Immigration Reform Overhaul Bill”:

• Illegal immigrants who have been in the country for at least five years could receive legal status after meeting several conditions, including payment of a ,000 fine and any back taxes, clearing a background check, and learning English. After six more years, they could apply for citizenship without having to leave the United States.

• Illegal immigrants in the country for between two and five years could obtain a temporary work visa after reporting to a border point of entry. Aides referred to this as "touch base and return," since people covered would know in advance they would be readmitted to the United States.

• Officials said it could take as long as 13 to 14 years for some illegal immigrants to gain citizenship. In part, that stems from an annual limit of 450,000 on green cards, which confer legal permanent residency and are a precursor to citizenship status.

• Illegal immigrants in the United States for less than two years would be required to leave the country and apply for re-entry alongside anyone else seeking to emigrate.

Separately, the legislation provides a new program for 1.5 million temporary agriculture industry workers over five years.

It also includes provisions for employers to verify the legal status of workers they hire, but it was not clear what sanctions, if any, would apply to violators.

To secure the border, the bill calls for a virtual fence — as opposed to the literal barrier contained in House legislation — consisting of surveillance cameras, sensors and other monitoring equipment along the long, porous border with Mexico.

The French have a saying: “The more things change, the more they remain the same.” It certainly rings true here and now in the United States. What is the difference between the Republicans and the Democrats on this immigration issue? We can’t find any difference in the way politicians on both sides of the aisle in Capitol Hill look down on immigrants and migrant workers with this racist piece of legislation.

It is bad enough that immigrants have no franchise (right to vote) even as they pay taxes just like anybody.

All too often, they are forced to take the most exploitative and oppressive jobs that even working-class citizens would not accept. Their contributions to US society are doubtless immense, yet the rest of bourgeois society takes them for granted, and even depreciates them as scapegoats in times of economic downturns.

The CDIR and People’s CORE call on all immigrant rights advocates, all immigrants and everyone who loves freedom and go all out for the May 1 Great American Boycott – A Day Without Immigrants.

Let us all act to stop racism and build a new movement for and in defense of civil rights and human rights that are being trampled upon in the belly of this capitalist beast. Defend Immigrant Rights, FULL RIGHTS FOR IMMIGRANTS, NOW! #