Stop blaming immigrants

Stop blaming immigrants
By David A. Love
David A. Love is a writer based in Philadelphia, and the executive editor of BlackCommentator.com.
September 9, 2010

Undocumented workers did not cause the recession.

Nor did they burst the housing bubble.

And the numbers of undocumented immigrants are going down, even as anti-immigrant sentiment is going up.

This makes no sense, and it amounts to scapegoating of the worst kind.

But that hasn’t stopped politicians from blaming the nation’s woes on these immigrants, or enacting punitive laws that will do nothing to bring back the 10 million jobs lost because the bankers on Wall Street destroyed the economy.

We need to stop the arrests and mass deportation of the undocumented. The criminalization of the Latino community is not the way.

We should be a generous nation, not a punitive one.

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David A. Love

Read the full article at:

http://www.progressive.org/mplove090910.html

Who want slaves they can underpay, expose to unsafe conditions, and treat like crap. Who won't complain about them. Haven't read this article yet but if the author doesn't mention employers at all (as is often the case with so-called "progressives" writing on the subject of immigration) I will disregard it as a worthless piece of shit from an exploitation enabler.

not engage in a right-wing racist expulsion campaign against undocumented workers.

It's all about class and I'm not going to wage war against other working class people no matter where they are from or what their status is in the United States.

Period.

on resorting to RW tactics of blaming (and even harrassing) the victims.

k/r

"It's so haaaaaard to check the documents!"

"But, but, E-verify sometimes has errors!"

"Oh my no, we didn't knowingly hire undocumented workers! Nope, no way! We didn't send a driver to go pick them up at the drop house and then help them forge the documents! Nope! Not us!"

Like you, Blonde, I live in AZ. I've heard all their bullshit excuses and then the assholes turn around and brag about how hard they work "the illeguls" and how little they pay them.

Acting as if calling for employer sanctions was the same as wanting to harass the poor brown workers.

Not something I would expect to hear from any progressives or pro-labor liberals I know.

If you don't want to go after employers that's your prerogative.

Nothing is going to change until we start arresting and fining the shit out of greedy scum who are exploiting people and committing labor fraud. And that's not going to happen until everyone stops focusing on the workers (conservatives engaging in racist eliminationist rhetoric and liberals romanticizing the poverty and desperation of immigrant workers) and turns their attention to the people who profit from the (deliberately) broken system.

If you're not for going after the employers you're not for immigration reform. Period.

money. They aren't ALL treated like slaves, etc.

I do agree that employers should be held accountable. If you stop employers from hiring them, you stop the problem.

your main concern.

The organized working class in North America has not written the immigrant worker and union organizing laws. If we did, we wouldn't have a problem.

The international labor movement has changed its policy for the better and now supports the organization of immigrant workers in ALL nations. They are putting into action the old labor slogan of "workers of the world, unite".

If and when we do .... look out Wall Street and corporate America, the sleeping giant has awakened.

The French labor movement organized mass demonstrations last weak in defense of immigrant workers the right-wing Sarkozy regime is trying to expel.

Good for them!

If they're not immigrants, what are they?

The only problems are paying them below minimum and/or market wages and the whole mess being tax evasion.

just follow the example of Arizona's right-wingnuts?

I've got nothing against undocumented workers.

I support them.

I want all workers in this nation to unite and fight our real enemies on Wall Street and on corporate boards and not let the bigots weaken and divide us against one another.

Do you have a problem with that?

Oh, well you've got nothing to complain about then.

Most illegal workers do not. n/t

But INS makes it damn near impossible. My ex-husband had to jump through a gszillion bureaurcratic hoops to become a citizen--and that was AFTER we were married.

BTW--he did not come from Mexico.

There are not any illegal workers in the United States, unless you support and defend anti-worker immigration laws written by the political whores of Wall Street and corporate America.

as they are a very integral part of business-friendly conservatives everywhere. They hurt labor unions, lower wages, and enrich corporations that break labor laws. Yeah, they are part and parcel of the problem, and whether they understand that or not doesn't really concern them, or me really. The reason their numbers are going down is because the economy is bad, which just shows why the come in the first place. More money. That's their priority. Not the well-being of Americans or the promotion of labor laws and unions. Their interests are in many ways fundamentally against what progressives are for in this country. They are scabs, period. There is a reason the very progressive nations of Europe have much more draconian immigration laws, especially in relation to illegal immigrants. It's because they value labor laws and their country's workforce and don't tolerate exploitation by corporations in their own country at the expense of workers. And cheap goods are not more important to them than human dignity and fair wages. As it is, illegal immigrants mostly just hurt working class Americans and seem to benefit the middle class and the wealthy by cheapening goods with their cheaper labor. It's just a reverse Wal-Mart. For those things you can't export to China, import cheap labor to here.

Not us. Reagan handed the Big Ag interests who got him elected Governor of CA a valentine when he was President in 1986. The amnesty was accompanied by a shift from employer-based to worker-based enforcement.

As it is, illegal immigrants mostly just hurt working class Americans and seem to benefit the middle class and the wealthy by cheapening goods with their cheaper labor. It's just a reverse Wal-Mart. For those things you can't export to China, import cheap labor to here.

Yep. And it hasn't helped matters that middle class and affluent progressives are enamored with romantic notions about "those hardworking noble family-oriented immigrants doing Jobs Americans Won't Do^TM". Here in AZ the Dem establishment is shocked (shocked!) that idiot Brewer is 20 points ahead in the polls and the rest of our statewide and legislative candidate slate is poised to be demolished come November. Dissing your working class base to suck up to country club Republican illegal employers didn't turn out to be a good strategy after all. Who knew? :eyes:

and btw, they aren't going to be coming anymore soon..

they exist because the government has been turning a blind eye for a long time to employers using illegal labor.

reduce benefits, break strikes, bash unions and fire workers who try to organize unions.

And you want to let Wall Street and corporate America off the hook by blaming immigrant workers for the economic crisis .... nothing like a convenient scapegoat!

Hey, how about showing a little labor and worker solidarity?

Don't believe or repeat that reactionary bull shit about undocumented workers being union busters and scabs.

I've heard that crapola before from right-wing co-workers.

Why should undocumented workers support organized labor or you if organized labor and you don't support them?

And I've worked with undocumented workers who were union members. Those of us who are "citizens" didn't attack them, didn't act as finks against them and guess what? They were among the best and most loyal union members we could count on during negotiations with the employer.

It's hard to have labor and worker solidarity when some of those workers will work for dirt wages and are illegal and don't want to join your union or else they won't be able to work, period.

Illegal labor is all about being union busters and scabs. The whole reason they are hired is to lower costs and increase profits for the businesses they work for.

How do you think that employers cut wages, lay-off workers, reduce benefits, break strikes, bash unions etc.? Well, among some of their tactics is hiring illegal labor. Illegal labor is a tool of the corporations. If some of those illegal workers somehow make it into unions, that's great, but it doesn't change their compromised status and the leverage an employer that knows about it can impose on them.

Why don't you see what happens if you flood a country with cheap illegal labor. I can't imagine that it will lead to lots of progressive labor policies. And now that the economy is so bad that the government is starting to finally crack down a little more on employers that hire illegal labor and more Americans are willing to work for even less, the environment isn't the best for illegal labor. Illegal labor is a race to the bottom, period.