California could be our immigration example
President Trump has brandished his
deportation machine by attacking immigrants who arrived here as children.
As federal immigration policy becomes more extreme, it will be up to states and local jurisdictions to refuse to submit to Trump’s mob rule policies that target and scapegoat immigrants. Instead, our immigration policies should assert values of safety and family unity.
That’s why the California Values Act, which is on its way to becoming law, would make our public schools, hospitals, courthouses and libraries safe and available to all Californians, regardless of immigration status.
California could lead the way in showing how values-based immigration policy that allows immigrants to access basic protections and directs law enforcement to do its job — not Trump’s dirty work — will enhance public safety and strengthen the economy for all. Matt Nelson Presente.org Oakland
The demand for the work that
undocumented immigrants provide is not going away and will not abate by punishing employers. We need immigration policy that accepts this reality, allowing immigrants to work legally in a way that jeopardizes neither them nor their employer.
We used to admit the workers who take these jobs as immigrants who could bring their families, work legally and stay in the communities they helped to build. Now the only legal way for these workers to enter the country is on a temporary guest worker visa, such as an H-2 visa, that resembles indentured servitude.
H-2 visas are owned by employers, not the immigrants themselves, which means these workers cannot legally find work elsewhere in the U.S. once they’re here. The boss holds all the power and can have them deported at any time. Immigrants with H-2 visas typically arrive in debt after agreeing to pay recruiters in their home countries for the opportunity to work here. Natalie Tsu Southern Poverty Law Center Atlanta