COMMUNITY
ORGANIZING
Myths
& Realities about Immigration Today
Vets Affairs
Testimony
National
Statement Supporting Human Rights by NNIR
The
Struggle to Pass the Equity Bill
Strive
Act a False Promise
Vets Affairs Testimony
2
The
STRIVE Act is a False Promise
On the street, true immigration reform means: fixing the
family reunification system so families won’t be separated;
legalization for the undocumented without incremental phases
that stretch out for years; due process and equal rights
for immigrants; immigrant worker freedom from exploitation
and employer abuse; and an end to the criminalization of
immigrants on the border and in the interior.
We
also need a serious investigation of immigration’s
root causes -- economic, military, or environmental --that
forces the dislocation of people from their home countries.
What role do our country’s policies play in that dislocation?
Our national blind spot is that we see immigration one-dimensionally
-- only from our side of the border.
Unfortunately,
this is not what we’re getting from Congress in 2007.
Congress continues to view immigrants through a national
security and disposable worker lens, proposing harsh enforcement
while it moves away from permanent, family-based immigration
toward temporary worker programs. For the aspiring millions
who spoke out for immigrant rights last year, this is not
the response we wanted.
STRIVE
(Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant
Economy Act of 2007), introduced by Congressmen Luis Gutierrez
and Jeff Flake, continues to mistakenly frame immigration
policy as a national security issue. In STRIVE, ‘comprehensive
immigration reform’ means trading some improvements
in the family reunification system for greater numbers of
temporary workers, and the continued criminalization of
immigrants. Advocates for immigrant rights will not find
a human rights perspective in this bill.
STRIVE
ramps up the militarization of the border and interior enforcement.
An electronic employment verification system and reporting
regulations will lead to increased racial profiling, more
detentions and deportations, and the spending of precious
resources on more jails.
STRIVE
increases employer sanctions. While sanctions don’t
prevent employers from hiring the undocumented, they are
a hammer over the heads of immigrants; used to fire immigrant
workers who organize or protest mistreatment.
Thousands
of families are waiting for an end to the backlogs that
have separated members for as many as 20 years. STRIVE does
not increase the current cap of 480,000 visas, so the reunification
of separated families will still take years. (In her very
different bill, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee has proposed
to double family visas, which would go a long way towards
ending these terrible backlogs.)
STRIVE
offers a ‘path to citizenship’ that could take
two decades if an applicant is able to satisfy excessive
criteria. Applicants must first endure a temporary status
for 6 years. An immigrant can then apply for permanent residence,
but this won’t kick-in until other applicants (petitioned
family members) , already in the pipeline for visas, have
received theirs. Given current backlogs, that could take
5 to 10 years, since STRIVE doesn’t increase the overall
cap for familyvisas. Also, Homeland Security must put in
place a document verification system and new border surveillance
technology before legalization can even start. That also
could take years. Once legalized, people would still have
to wait at least five more years before gaining eligibility
for citizenship, pushing that goal to nearly two decades
(if the system is working as planned). Throughout those
years applicants must remain employed to keep their application
alive --a sure formula for employer abuse.
If
STRIVE becomes law, the number of temporary visas (400,000+)
will begin to exceed the number of permanent resident visas,
a trend supported by President Bush. STRIVE increases temporary
worker visas in spite of the system’s documented abuse.
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s recent report “Close
to Slavery” exposed yet again that intractable abuses
are inherent in temporary worker programs. With increased
job competition, temporary workers would jeopardize the
already fragile place immigrants have in the economy.
We
have no need for temporary workers if we legalize the 10+
million undocumented, and make visas available for the 4
million family members whose applications are already approved.
STRIVE
does include provisions like the DREAM Act, the AgJOBS Act,
the Strengthening American Citizenship Act, and would provide
visas for the sons and daughters of Filipino WWII veterans.
These are all positive measures that should be passed as
separate bills.
We
should not support a bill that does not offer a viable plan
to legalize the undocumented, shifts immigration policy
away from uniting families to provide employers with temporary
workers, increases the likelihood of raids plus other enforcement
measures, and treats immigrants like criminals.
The
STRIVE Act is a false promise when we desperately need real
solutions.
