Labor & Employment Law

Trumka: Arizona Suit a First Step, But Not Enough

By James Parks

 The Obama administration?s suit to stop Arizona from implementing the anti-immigrant law, known as SB1070, is an important first step towards protecting the fundamental civil rights of working people in the state, but does not go far enough, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said.

In a statement late yesterday, Trumka said the administration can? and should?revoke the authority the Department of Justice has delegated to Arizona under agreements in which Homeland Security trains members of eight state and local law enforcement agencies in Arizona, including the state police, which allows the officers to enforce immigration laws.

The Arizona law is ?a frustrated response to the lack of federal action on immigration reform,? Trumka said. Immigration is a federal issue and Congress must do its job and fix our broken immigration system, he added. 

The solution to our broken immigration system must protect all workers and provide a fair path toward citizenship for undocumented workers already living and working in the United States. It must address the unique circumstances faced by undocumented students who were brought to the United States by their parents long ago. It must include an independent commission to determine our society?s genuine need for more workers that does not afford employers a steady stream of exploitable labor. And it must include a mechanism to ensure that employers are held accountable when they break the law.

Laws like SB1070 will never stop illegal immigration, Trumka said, because they fail to address the problem?s root cause: “U.S. employers? unquenchable thirst for cheap, disposable workers and failed trade and economic policies that force workers to leave their home countries in search of work.?

 Read Trumka?s full statement here.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on July 07, 2010 (boomark / email).